The Phoenix
by Princess Selina
Summary: After six long years of waiting, Nixie and Hydie have finally left on their Pokémon journey through the Hoenn Region. The two sisters seeking different paths, Nixie longs to take on the Hoenn League and Hydie dreams of the Grand Festival. But when you've run away from home, nothing is easy, especially with the madness of Team Magma following them, intent on destruction.
1. Lonesome in Littleroot

Chapter One: Lonesome in Littleroot

**Nixie's POV**

It's always been clear to me that I'm far from the family favorite, but this is just ridiculous. There's really a difference between bias and just being plain cruel. Not enough room in the car to sit comfortably with the other three and my mother, so I have to ride in the back of the moving van. I'm surrounded by boxes, mostly filled with new and never been used things that my mum has bought Hydie, May and Max over the last couple of weeks to help them deal with the fact we were moving so ridiculously far away. She hadn't even told me directly, she just had Hydie mention it to me, she had clearly thought, "It's Nixie, she won't care that I'm moving her away from everything she knows and cares about, but no, she definitely can't handle going out on her Pokémon journey."

I honestly don't care about moving, it's no big deal really, mum seems to forget that Twinleaf Town was something like the twenty-sixth "home" we had, but seeing as it was the only place we'd actually stayed for more than about a year, two whole years in Twinleaf Town, everywhere else had been across just about every corner of every region on the planet. Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, even the Orange Islands, basically, I don't even have a hometown. That's another reason Mum says I can't go on my journey, she says that half the point is to travel, and seeing as I've done so much traveling already, she says there's no point really.

The only reason we stayed in Twinleaf for so long was because she'd had a steady boyfriend, my mother is someone who can't live for more than twenty minutes without a man. She married him about six months ago, but he just got a job as the leader of the Petalburg Gym, so we had to move from Sinnoh to Hoenn to be closer. We aren't even moving to the same place though; we're moving to some tinchy place called Littleroot Town. There's a shortcut through the mountains that Norman, my new "dad," can take which gets him back to Littleroot so he'll still be close by.

Suddenly I felt the truck turn a shark corner, and I was flung sideways, knocking against the wall of the truck, and I swore loudly enough for the driver to loudly shout abuse at me for having such a sharp tongue, god he's a hypocrite. Really, this had to violate a health or safety regulation or I don't know, come under child abuse? I guess this isn't the worse thing I've had to put up with, but I'm still pretty sure that if someone knew about this, I wouldn't have to stay with my mother anymore. I could actually get away from all of this, I mean it wasn't like they could actually just send me to live with my father, mum doesn't even know who it is. Well, that's her story and she's sticking to it, I've been able to tell when she's lying for years, she knows who it is, she just doesn't want to risk that Hydie and I will try to find him.

Hydie and I are fraternal twins, but neither of us look overly like each other, well we didn't until I dyed my hair. Honestly my step siblings look more like Hydie's siblings than I do, because while Hydie is brown-haired and blue-eyed, I was blonde and brown-eyed, I got so annoyed with people refusing to believe that we're related; that I dyed my hair, and I also wear contacts on and off to make my eyes look blue, only on special occasions though, well mostly when my mother is involved. She's always pressuring me to look more like Hydie, act like her, think like her; Hydie is perfect in her eyes. It's mostly because Hydie has never seen a point in arguing with mum, but honestly if mum knew half the things that Hydie had said to me in private, she'd probably get kicked out of home.

The most annoying thing about having a new family though is an extra standard on top of Hydie's treatment with which May and Max are treated. Norman is fully determined for May and Max to go on their Pokémon Journeys, he doesn't even seem to notice that May honestly doesn't like Pokémon. He loves them more than life itself, which is obvious, he's trying with Hydie and I, he really is, but at the same time, mum puts a wall around Hydie and I so he can't get to us. I once heard him trying to convince Mum to let us go out on our journeys, but that lead to him sleeping on the couch that night, you didn't argue with mum when it came to this. Mum doesn't know that I sneak out to watch Pokémon Battles on TV when she's asleep, she doesn't know that I've got written in a secret file on my laptop a million battle techniques, Pokémon analysis, the perfect moves for the perfect situation. She doesn't know how much I want to be a trainer, she doesn't know how I've dreamed of facing trainers, gym leaders and leagues for as long as I can remember, but if she did know, that wouldn't mean I'd get to go, it would mean I'd me under more restrictions than I already am.

I could run away, I know I could, you don't exactly need a permission slip from your parents to go on your journey, it's not like it's over the top unusual for someone not to go on a journey, I mean a large majority of people do, but there are quite a few people who aren't interested or are needed at home or aren't ready for it that either leave late or don't go at all. But I know if I ran, there was no guarantee Hydie would come with me, I mean quite honestly she knows mum is a cow to me, but at the same time, she gets along with her, and she isn't as desperate to get out of here as I am. And I'm not going anywhere without my sister, I honestly couldn't bare to be apart from her.

Even as this thought came to me, I was flung backwards as the truck suddenly stopped and I crashed into the metal wall and landed flat on my stomach, 'Ow,' I muttered irritably.

I picked myself and then I realized that we must actually be here, because the driver had gotten out of the truck and I could hear him yelling out orders to the other workman who'd been driving the other truck. I looked out the small hole in the wall, and I could see a house, where Hydie was standing with May and Max, laughing as she looked around in wonder at our new home, her optimism was something I'd always envied. But after a couple of minutes it was clear that they'd forgotten I was in here, they were too busy unloading the other truck to look in this one. So I did the only thing I could do, I started banging against the door as hard as I could, slamming my fists into the metal until eventually, the door slid up and the light blinded me as sunlight streamed in, I'd been in there for hours.

'Sorry Nyx!' Hydie apologized, but even as I looked at her in exasperation, a grin spread across her face and she pulled on my hand until I jumped out of the truck babbling, 'You've got to see the house! It's amazing!'

She was giggling like mad as she pulled me along until I came down the driveway and saw the house. She had a point, the house was humongous, and it looked beautiful, there seemed to be a great amount of serenity that surrounded us and the ocean wasn't too far away. It was at least three stories, it was widow and open, with French doors and lots of windows surrounded by a small garden, the path covered in white stones.

'Littleroot Town, a town that can't be shaded any hue,' I sighed, 'So this is home for now.'

'Oh come on, we're going to be here for a while,' Hydie laughed, 'I mean honestly, mum promised, and as long as Norman keeps his job in Petalburg, which won't be hard, he's a really good trainer!'

'Stop being positive, I'm allowed to be grumpy,' I said nudging her, 'I've been in there for hours.'

She gave me an awkward smile, and a little shrug, she'd offered to take turns with me in the truck, but mum never would have let that happen and deliberately she looked around for a distraction, 'Hey, look at those Machoke!'

She scurried off to go look at the massive fighting types carting around our furniture, but that was when I noticed my mother was looking at me with an expression that clearly said "I'm warning you." Did she really think I was going to try anything? Besides, if I did anything that she didn't like, it wasn't likely to be on purpose. It wasn't that I went looking for trouble, it just sort of… tended to find me… at extremely inconvenient moments.

But that was when I felt the hairs prick on the back of my neck, and instantaneously I whipped around, I didn't see anything at first. For a moment I thought I was just being paranoid, I mean it wouldn't be the first time, but I'd always had a very sensitive sixth-sense, I always just seemed to know just before something was going to go wrong or if someone was watching me. And continuing to look around, that's when I noticed who'd been watching us, or more accurately, Hydie.

A boy of no more than seventeen or eighteen was at the top of a birch tree nearby, bright green eyes watching us with some sort of curiosity, and even as he observed everything else, his eyes would always float back towards Hydie. His hair was ruffled and spiky in dark brown tufts, which even though he wasn't in an overly secure place in the tree, he kept touching with one of his hands, knuckles covered in little scars. He was tall and well-muscled like someone who was no stranger to working hard, or running, and tanned to the point that it was pretty clear that he rarely spent time inside. And most enviously to me, he had Pokéballs dangling from a belt at his hip, next to a little device that looked like the newest version of the Pokédex, so he was clearly a trainer. But the fact that he was watching all of us was kind of creepy, so I decided I might as well get him down from that tree.

So moving as close to the tree as I could without him noticing I was approaching him, I then proceeded to yell as loudly as possible, 'Oi kid! Can you see us okay from up there or do you want some binoculars!'

Completely thrown off guard by my shout he let go off the tree by accident before falling flat on the ground on his back from a good five meters in the air, 'Ow…' he said awkwardly sounding winded.

I nudged him with my shoe boredly, even as Hydie, Mum, May and Max looked completely horrified, 'You okay? That was quite some fall.'

But almost instantly he leapt back up on his feet and with a smile of good humor he said, 'Of course I'm fine, falls like that happen all the time… well to me anyway.'

'I see, so you get caught staring at teenage girls from trees often?' I asked casually.

'No, no, I was up in that tree before I heard the moving trucks, and besides, I always fall off things, into rivers, off cliffs, crash into walls and trees, trip over and go rolling down hills or mountainsides, nearly get crushed by boulders and of course the amount of times I've been chased by wild Pokémon is just not funny,' he said shooting me an apologetic, lopsided grin.

'And yet you still climb trees?' I laughed.

'Hey, getting injured doing stupid things is a family trait,' he laughed, 'I'm Brendan, I'm your new neighbor.'

He offered me his hand to shake, but even as I did, I couldn't help notice his eyes once again hover towards Hydie once more, 'I'm Phoenix Carinthia, but you can call me Nixie.'

'Phoenix is an unusual name,' he commented, and even as he tried to look at me, his eyes once again floated towards Hydie and I rolled my eyes, might as well put him out of his misery.

'Well my sister drew the short straw and ended up with the name Hydra, so I can't complain,' I shrugged, 'Hey, Hydie, come over here.'

Hydie looked up again, bright blue eyes lighting up with cheer, before her eyes fixated on Brendan and she grinned slowly. No doubt she had looked at him before when I yelled out to him, but she got easily distracted so she probably hadn't looked properly the first time. And knowing my sister, she probably did like what she saw.

'Hiya,' she said brightly, flashing him a smile, 'It's Hydie and you?'

'Brendan, Brendan Birch,' he stuttered out slightly.

But before he could say anything else awkwardly to my sister, I couldn't help but notice something, 'Wait, Birch as in Professor Birch?' I interrupted.

He smiled at me slightly before saying, 'I told you getting injured doing stupid things runs in the family, who else around here could I be related to?'

'Nixie,' Hydie suggested, smirking at me.

'I do not get injured stupid things!'

'No, you get injured doing things which sounded like a good idea at the time, and only about a week later when the cast or the bandage starts annoying you will you admit it probably was a bad idea,' Hydie laughed, and even as I poked my tongue at her she hesitated slightly and asked, 'One question though… whose Professor Birch?'

'Hydie!' I snapped exasperatedly, 'Professor Birch is one of the best Pokémon researchers in the Hoenn region. He's well-known for his method of playing with Pokémon to learn more about their habits and how they live and his extensive amount of field research.'

'He's no big deal really,' Brendan laughed off handedly, looking slightly embarrassed, 'Dad really doesn't seem like that when you get to know him well enough.'

'Dad huh?' I asked, and he bloomed even brighter red then he had been before, 'So our new neighbor is the son of Professor Birch?'

He laughed awkwardly, 'Dad and I spend most of our time at the lab, it's up on the ridge about ten minutes walk from here.'

'Hydie! Nixie!' my mother yelled loudly, cutting though the air with her shrill tones, 'Come inside now, you have to start unpacking now or we'll never get any of this done!'

'Yes mum!' Hydie called obediently, 'It was nice meeting you Brendan.'

Hydie nodded at him, smiled and scurried inside, and I vaguely waved at him before following Hydie back up the driveway, but before I went back inside Mum grabbed me by the wrist in a vice grip and hissed to me, 'You don't think I heard who he is?'

'Well I know that you've got the ears of a Loudred so I have no doubt that you heard,' I said glaring at her, but forcing my voice to stay calm.

'Just because we're somehow neighbors to a Pokémon Professor and his son does not give you an excuse to go near those things-'

'Just like you marrying a gym leader was not a reason for me to be able to go on my journey, let alone have any interaction with Pokémon,' I said calmly, paraphrasing the words she'd spoken to me when she started dating Norman in the first place.

She glared at me furiously but she still said, 'Precisely. If you must go near that boy, you do not go near his Pokémon.'

'You know, most mothers warn their daughters about something entirely different when it comes to teenage boys,' I commented snarkily which only made her glare at me even harder.

'I'd let you go near Pokémon if you could be trusted, you have done nothing to deserve my trust Phoenix,' she hissed darkly.

'And you've done nothing to deserve my love, so I guess we're on the same page Mother,' I spat coldly, before I flounced inside, but I could feel a set of eyes on me as I left, and they weren't just the eyes of my mother, and I realized with a dull thud, that Brendan had heard something, but how much he heard, I wasn't sure.

…

**Hydie's POV**

'Nixie?' I asked sticking my head around the door.

Nixie was sitting on her knees on the floor of her new room, folding some clothes from one of the boxes into the bottom draw of her dresser; she looked up at me chocolate-brown eyes hinted with pure exhaustion, 'Yes Hydie?'

She always looked tired, no matter how much sleep she got, she always looked like she needed more. Nixie had always been seeming to fight this eternal war with our mother, she'd never seemed to be able to take a step back, never take no for an answer. So instead; simply because she was the person she was, she was forced to argue and protest and fight with our mother, giving each other the silent treatment, or screaming each other, it was not good to see them around each other. They'd never fight in front of May and Max, and they'd never fight half as bad if they knew I was listening, but still there were very few fights that I didn't overhear. Nixie would just sit there, and she'd stress out, and she'd freak out and she'd drive herself insane, and pretend like she didn't care no matter how much she clearly was being destroyed by it.

'What did mum say to you before you came inside? She clearly said something,' I asked.

'Basically threatening me as usual, also saying that if I go near Brendan, I am not allowed near any of the Pokémon,' Nixie shrugged boredly, the uncaring tone in her voice all to obvious, but all too fake to me.

'Nyx,' I sighed, 'You can't let her bully you like this-'

'Hydie, I do nothing but refuse to let her get away with this, but she puts you in a box and ties a bow around you, and you let her,' Nixie snapped, her voice sounding angry and hurt, a tone she'd only ever let me hear.

'Isn't just letting her have her way better than having to fight with her constantly, having to argue with her constantly, and… drive yourself insane over fighting with her?' I asked.

Nixie looked up at me, some sort of bitter determination lighting up her chocolate eyes, before she said, 'I'm never going to give up, I just can't-'

'Two years Nixie,' I half-pleaded with her, 'Two years and we're out of here. Two years and she has no control over us-'

'She shouldn't have any control over us now, she doesn't deserve it,' Nixie hissed, tears of anger gathering at the edge of her eyelashes.

'I want to get out of here as well,' I reminded, 'you know that Nixie, but there's nothing that we can do about it!'

'That doesn't mean that I'm going to stop trying to do something about it!' Nixie yelled finally losing her temper, not that it had been that good in the first place, 'And yes, we could do something about it, we really could, we could leave, and I want to! But for the life of me I've never been sure if I did, whether you'd come with me! And if you did if you'd hate me for putting you in that place for the rest of your life!'

I stared at Nixie, unable to believe what had just come out of her mouth. Yes, we'd talked about running off so many times, but since things settled with Norman around, she hadn't said anything like that. And I'd always just presumed that she'd given up on the idea, but I knew looking at the expression on her face that she hadn't forgotten for a second. And knowing Nixie, it was probably only because she wanted to give me a chance to be happy… and I hated when she did things like that more than anything else. I never for a second would want my sister to feel misery in exchange for my happiness. But still, I just didn't know what to say. Yes, things with mum were bad; Nixie hadn't been on good terms with our mother for a long time, probably since we were about five. And I did want to get away, see the world without restrictions, learn who I am and grow as a person, and I would love to be able to be friends with Pokémon, but at the same time…

I knew far too well, that I did owe my mother something, I loved May, Max and Norman, and if I ran off… I'd end up disappointing them all. And… I didn't know if I was ready for my journey, even though I knew if I told Nixie that she would tell me it's because mum just told me horror stories about them to unnerve me, and that everyone else she'd talked to had never said it was hard at all. But I was comfortable with my family, I'd learnt that no matter the place, I was accepted by them… something that unfortunately, had never been the case for Nixie.

'See Hydie?' Nixie asked softly.

I looked back up at her in surprise, I had kind of tuned out on her, 'What do you mean?'

'Every time you realise how serious I am about running off you go all quiet like that. Hydie, you're the only one I have, you're the only one I have left. But you will never be able to give me the same level of trust, and it's probably because you're a better person than I am,' Nixie said shaking her head, 'I can't go anywhere without you, and I know that, but I don't think you realise it. And there's only so much I can take Hydie. There's only so many blows someone can last through before they burn. And… I'm feeling the cinders.'

'Nyx…' was the only thing that I could manage to say.

But Nixie smiled at me softly and whispered, 'It's okay Hydie, go unpack your stuff, mum would be annoyed with me if she catches us talking when we have a job to do.'

**Hey all, this is a new version of a story I did post at one stage, but I lost interest so I deleted it, but it's back with a vengeance, I'm not writing it the same way I did, and this time I'm actually checking it over for spelling and grammar, and actually thinking things through before I do them. Any comments, hints, suggestions, or advice is welcome, thanks so much for reading.**

**~Selina**


	2. Mudkip Misadventures

Chapter Two: Mudkip Misadventures

**Brendan's POV**

'So Brendan, anything interesting happen today?' Dad asked me in between shoving massive slices of roast into his mouth.

'Well we have new neighbors down at the house,' I commented, draining a glass of milk.

'Oh really? Did you go meet them?'

'Yeah, there's four kids-'

'That's a lot of kids for one family,' dad laughed spraying the table with chunks of potato, 'I have enough trouble with one.'

'The two eldest are twins by the look of it, they're my age,' I began but my dad laughed again.

'No wonder you went and talked to them.'

'Shut up dad. Phoenix and Hydra Carinthia, but they go by Nixie and Hydie, there were two other kids there as well, but I didn't catch their names,' I explained, but I kept wondering if I should tell Dad what I overheard the mother saying to Nixie.

'Carinthia huh? Those must be Norman's kids, but I think the elder two are step-kids,' his dad realised.

'Norman? As in the new Petalburg gym leader? I know you said he was an old friend of yours, but why would they be here if the gym is in Petalburg city, that's a two-day walk,' Brendan reminded.

'Via Odale Town it is, but there's that passage through the mountains, he and I found it when we were kids, its so much faster! It's a two-hour drive,' his dad reminded with a laugh, 'You must have met May and Max a few times before, haven't you?'

'Yeah, but that was years ago, Max was only five then, and May was seven, if I remember correctly I wasn't in much of a mood to play with kids that age at the time,' I reminded, 'I was going through my horrible phase then.'

'Oh I remember that phase, worst two years of parenthood ever!'

'It did not go for two years!'

'Did so!'

'Did not!'

Both of us laughed, Dad and I had never had an overly traditional father/son relationship. My Dad wasn't the most mature of people, and neither was I and as a result, we were a bit more like brothers or friends than father and son most of the time. But honestly I wouldn't have it any other way, it was too much fun this way, you could get away with saying so much to your dad when you had a relationship like that.

'So, are these step-daughters pretty?' Dad asked me, knowing me all too well.

'...Yeah, they are, Hydie... she's gorgeous, and Nixie's really funny as well, they look a bit alike but I have a feeling they aren't identical,' I grinned.

'Anything else?'

'Well...'

'Well what?'

'What do you know about Norman's new wife?' I asked awkwardly.

'Caroline? She seemed fine when I met her, good mother, seems to adore Norman,' Dad laughed, 'Why?'

'It's just... she said something to Nixie, something she clearly didn't mean for me to hear, it sounded like she'd forbidden her to have any contact with Pokémon whatsoever, and like she wasn't allowed to go on her Pokémon Journey. Something about not being able to trust her... Okay I know this sounds like paranoid conspiracy rants but-'

'Brendan,' dad interrupted, 'Are you sure about this?'

'...Yes... Wait, you believe me?' I pointed out.

'Brendan, I know when you're lying, I always have known that,' dad reminded me.

'So what do we do?' I asked.

'We can't do much, but for now, just keep an eye on the girls, it might have just been a one of fight,' he told me.

'Dad, it really didn't sound like a one-off fight, it sounded more like an ongoing feud,' I tried.

'Brendan, there's not much we can do, just keep an eye on them, but that's it for now.'

'...Yes dad.'

...

**Nixie's POV**

'So the Hoenn starters are Mudkip, Treeko and Torchic- Oh that Torchic is adorable. Which evolve into Marshtomp, Grovyle and Combusken, with Marshtomp gaining ground type characteristics and Combusken gaining fighting type traits, that Combusken would be mega powerful after that. And finally they evolve into Swampert, Sceptile and Blaziken. Sceptile is the fastest of the starter Pokémon, Swampert has the highest defense and Blaziken has the highest attack, but it also has pretty decent speed as well... Swampert is weak against the least types, but it has a double weakness to grass type attacks, but it can learn poison and ice attack to counter it. Sceptile is weak to five different types, but it has a large range of attacks it can learn to counter them as well. Blaziken are weak to four types but they are able to learn grass, electric and ghost attacks to counter those weaknesses, and it's believed to be the most powerful of the three starters-'

'What are you doing Nixie?' came a voice from the door.

I slammed my laptop lid shut as fast as I could, and looked up to see May standing at the door of my room, 'Oh, hi sweetie what is it?'

'Mum says breakfast's ready,' she said sheepishly, 'What were you muttering to yourself about?'

'Nothing May, don't worry about it,' I laughed, 'it's just my schizophrenia kicking in.'

May giggled at my joke, smiling at me brightly before I walked over to the door to go down with her to breakfast. I was glad to have May around, she was only nine, but she was mature for her age, and would be ten soon enough. She was a sweet girl, and her optimism usually managed to rub off on me. Sure I envied her from time to time, for being able to go on a journey when I couldn't, but I knew she'd switch places with me if she could.

When I got down stairs with May, Hydie and Max were already at the table, Mum was in the joint kitchen. And even as I sat down, grabbing a pancake from the stack on the table, smothering it in maple syrup, and completely ignoring me Mum came over to Hydie and put an extra pancake on her plate before she'd even finished the other.

'Hydie darling, I got you that whipped Miltank cream with pecha and pinap berries that you love for a treat,' she said smiling, spurting out half a can of the stuff on top of the pancake.

Hydie grinned at her, chirping out, 'Thanks mum.'

Mum went back to the kitchen, not even noticing Hydie and I switching plates the moment she turned her back. Hydie wasn't really overly fussed on the stuff, she just convinced Mum that she loved it so she'd actually buy it. I was slightly addicted to the stuff, so Hydie and I had this deal, if she told mum that she loved the stuff, I'd tell mum that I loved her steamed tofu salad, that way she'd never make it ever again.

'So what's the plan for today?' May asked cheerfully, spooning cinnamon on a pancake roughly the size of her head.

'I figured we'd just go and explore the town, there's some gorgeous places, I mean there's a port right nearby and there's the forest and the mountains and-'

'You should all stay in town today,' my mother called from the kitchen.

'Well either way, I hear they have a great block of department stores,' Hydie began and as Max looked exasperated she added, 'And there's an exhibit on in the community hall about extinct Pokémon. I'm sure we can all find something we want to do today, and maybe meet a few people our age up here.'

Max and May both looked excited and I pulled Hydie by her hair a little closer to me and asked amusedly, 'We're still going to check out all the other places right?'

'Of course we are, who do you think I am? Just because I'm a suck up doesn't mean I'm obedient,' she laughed in an undertone.

'Knew it,' I giggled rolling my eyes, I knew Hydie far too well, and mum thought I was the bad influence, little did she know it was Hydie who came up with the ideas most of the time.

We all finished off breakfast and started going upstairs to get ready to go out and even as May and Max followed Hydie upstairs, mum grabbed me and hissed, 'Just so you know Nixie, I will be having lunch in the forest lodge inn today and Norman is coming through the mountains for dinner tonight, just incase you were planning any little excursions.'

'Got it,' I sighed impatiently before running upstairs.

May and Max were both standing on top of the stairs, looking confused to what was going on, but I ushered them down the corridor, whispering to them as we went along, 'Put your swimmers on under your clothes, we're going to go swimming at the port today no matter what mother dearest says.'

May and Max both beamed at me, 'Yes!' and scurried along the hallway.

'You're clearly the cool mum in this situation,' Hydie laughed from where she was leaning against the door frame, shaking her head at me.

I looked at her, shrugged and snapped my fingers, 'And don't you doubt it honey.'

...

**Hydie's POV**

'Cannonball!' Max yelled as he jumped off the edge of the pier.

May very quickly dived in after him, 'Oh my goodness, the water feels so great! Aren't you two coming in?!'

'We're not finished our ice cream,' Nixie laughed, 'Unlike you two, we're not impervious to getting brain freezes!'

I couldn't help but wonder as I looked at Nixie, she tended to wear so much of the same thing, I'm not saying it looked bad or anything, but part of it just felt... safe. She was wearing a red plaid dress with a pleated skirt, which reached to about mid-thigh. Her dark brown locks pushed out of her face with a black headband, with matching sandals on her feet.

It was strange to think about it, but I couldn't help but think if Nixie was really being herself all the time, the outfit would have been fitted out with a thick black belt, boots, massive hoop earrings and knowing her she might have tied a piece of cloth around her neck like a scarf. I kind of miss blonde Nixie, before she started getting pressured by mum to be more like me in more than just personality.

Back then she was more fearless, she wasn't likely to do anything under the radar, she went out with a bang or not at all. She was even wearing the coloured contacts to make her eyes blue today, she'd been wearing them a lot more often lately, but I don't think she entirely realised. Just like nowadays there was rarely a day when she didn't straighten her hair out of her usual ringlets, the only reason she hadn't today was because we were going swimming. Admittedly it still hadn't snapped back into the usual curls because she'd straightened it yesterday, but I kind of missed her old look, because this one seemed to be suppressing her personality.

'Tuned out a bit Hydie?' I grinned apologetically at Nixie who was shaking her head at me but she then commented, 'I only ask because your ice cream is dripping on your foot.'

'What?- Oh dammit!' I exclaimed dancing around, accidentally dropping my ice cream on the ground.

'Nice one Hydie,' May laughed from the water, 'now come on, are you coming in or what?'

I grinned at May, and didn't dare look at Nixie because the look on her face would only make this that much more embarrassing, before I slipped my dress off, leaving me standing in my bikini. Shoving the material into my bag before I kicked off my shoes and dove into the water.

'Oh that's so much better!' I sighed.

'Calm down Kelpie,' Nixie laughed who was pulling off her shoes, getting ready to come in, 'It's not as brilliant as you think it is, but who knows, maybe it feels different to mermaids?'

'It definitely does, which probably explains my confusion with you being such a pyromaniac,' I teased straight back.

Nixie smirked at me, before saying playing along with the joke we'd probably had since we were nine, 'Blaze, inflame and burn, that is the true motto of a pyromaniac.'

And tapping her fingers to the side of her forehead in a mock salute, she jumped off the edge of the dock after me.

...

**Brendan's POV**

I couldn't help but stare at Hydie from where she stood on the dock, wringing water out of her brunette hair. She was smiling and laughing and something about the ocean spray surrounding her, gave her this new glow that I hadn't noticed before. That smile of hers was so infectious, it just made her shine all that bit brighter. She had gotten out of the water later than the others, Nixie had taken May and Max to get lunch, but Hydie still stood there, glowing and laughing for no clear reason other than... she could.

'Mudkip!'

I looked around wildly to see the little Mudkip from the lab nudging me with its fin. Small and bright blue with a large head, beady eyes and bright orange star-shaped gills on its cheeks. It's tail was a very pale blue and was twitching continuously as it looked up at me with its large pink mouth agape looking excited.

'What are you doing here? Little escape artist,' I asked it scooping it up, then I remembered, 'There's a trainer coming to have a look at you today.'

'Kip!'

I had a strange feeling that Mudkip had already seen this trainer, and either hadn't been picked again or once again, had decided that it didn't like said trainer and refused to be nice, ultimately ending with it not getting selected. This Mudkip was very picky when it came to people, honestly, it liked me, probably only because I'd raised so many Mudkip helping my dad out that I knew what they liked, but it didn't like any of my Dad's assistants, and only tolerated my Dad.

But without warning the Mudkip leapt out of my arms and began running along the ground at the dock, and before I could stop it, it ran along the pier to Hydie and started jumping up at her leg, ramming her ankle with its head trying to get her attention. Even as I ran trying to intervene, Hydie looked down at the little Mudkip, and her face split into the most amazing smile I'd ever seen.

But quickly remembering that she was being slightly attacked by the Mudkip, I was technically in charge of, I ran towards Hydie and seeming like the universe wanted me to be as awkward as possible, I tripped slightly, skidded along my knees a meter or so, and yanked the Mudkip away from her even as it called out a rather annoyed with me.

'Mud mud kip!'

'Ah sorry about that,' I said smiling awkwardly as I looked up at Hydie.

'That is the cutest thing ever,' Hydie sighed.

'What?'

'The Pokémon,' Hydie clarified, 'What is it?'

'Oh right! This little one's a Mudkip, it's one of the Pokémon we give out to trainers starting their journeys over here, our resident water type. This one however, is a little trouble maker-'

Almost as if on queue the little Mudkip leapt out of my arms again and some how landed in Hydie's, nuzzling it's face against her arm, 'Kip!' it chirped happily.

I couldn't help but laugh, and Hydie was beaming at the little Mudkip, part of her expression almost looking like she was going to cry, even though I didn't have the faintest idea why, 'Oh it is the sweetest little thing, which ever trainer starts out with you is so lucky,' an almost envious note in her tone.

'And no doubt that'll take a while, I haven't seen this Mudkip take to anyone so well, usually it doesn't like anyone,' I couldn't help but say.

'It doesn't?' Hydie asked confused.

'Well I guess it's picky, but it certainly does seem to like you,' I laughed, but then gaining an idea to see if what I overheard yesterday was right, I asked her, 'So what Pokémon did you start with? I know you're new to the region.'

'Me? Oh I've never had a Pokémon, haven't been on my journey yet,' Hydie sighed sadly, scratching Mudkip under the chin.

'Why not? Don't you want to go?' I asked knowing perfectly well that wasn't true.

'Well... My mum isn't exactly keen on Nixie and I going, you know how it is,' she said with the tone of not wanting to say much.

'Actually I don't, my dad couldn't wait for me to go, he wanted to hear all the stories, and for me to find out as much as I could about Pokémon in my own way. Dad didn't even mean for me to be inspired to become a researcher like him, but it happened, journeys teach you a lot about yourself, why doesn't your mum want you to go?' I explained before asking her once again.

'Uh... it's complicated Brendan,' she said shakily, 'Well ah...I've got to go, Nixie will be wondering where I am.'

'Of course,' I told her, before I went to try to take the Mudkip back, 'Come on, let's go Mudkip.'

'Kip! Kip!' Mudkip protested latching onto Hydie's arm.

'I am so sorry about that,' I apologized hastily, 'Come on Mudkip, let go.'

'Kip mud kip!' it once again protested holding on tighter and tighter.

'Come on Mudkip, it's time to go,' Hydie said softly, and hearing her words Mudkip slowly let go but it did not seem happy, and it instantly started crying even as I pulled it back into my own arms.

I gave her a weak smile and said, 'I guess it's decided it doesn't like anyone but you,' I attempted.

'I guess so...' she said quietly, staring at the Mudkip with mourning eyes, like she was positive she didn't want it to go away.

'How about you come by the lab tomorrow? I'm sure Mudkip would love to see you again,' I offered.

'Really?! I could come?' she asked excitedly.

'Of course you could,' I grinned, before turning around and pointing upwards, 'See that ridge up there?'

'Aha.'

'The Lab is right up there, it's the only building up there, so it's not too hard to spot.'

'Thanks so much Brendan,' she laughed beaming at me, before she kissed the little Mudkip on the top of its head and it stopped crying instantly, 'Don't worry about a thing little one, I'll see you tomorrow.'

Hydie turned, and grabbed her bag, skipping off her long hair swinging behind her, as she waved. I held Mudkip a little tighter, knowing it would probably want to go after her, well admittedly I did as well, I really did want to know more about her.

'Mudkip mud!' Mudkip chirped looking up at me, it wasn't happy with me not letting it go after Hydie.

'Oh be quiet, you're not even supposed to have met her.'

**Hey all, the story is really starting to pick up and it's already branching off from what I wrote last time, I honestly can't believe how much better this is than my original. Any comments, hints, suggestions, or advice is welcome, thanks so much for reading.**

**~Selina**


	3. Together with a Torchic

Chapter 3: Together with a Torchic

**Nixie's POV**

'Bye mum,' Hydie called loudly as she hustled me down the corridor.

'Wait a second, Hydie, Nixie, where do you think you're going?' she asked coming to the edge of the corridor when we were almost out the door.

I actually wasn't entirely sure where Hydie was taking me, all I knew is she'd been practically bouncing ever since lunch yesterday. She wouldn't tell us what was going on, and with Hydie it could range from anything to secret agents to a mildly attractive boy, or anyone with a contest ribbon. So I couldn't answer the question, not that it would have ended well if I had known where we were going.

'Oh, Nixie and I saw the most adorable little boutique yesterday, they sell the most adorable summer dresses there, but I didn't have enough money on me for the one I wanted, so I have to go get it as soon as possible or someone else might take it.'

'Really? That's what you're so excited about? Why do I have to come?' I complained instantly, really, this is all it was?

'Oh of course Hydie go out and have fun, when will you be back with your sister?' my mum asked like I was a six-year-old that needs to be escorted everywhere.

'Maybe three or so? I want to keep shopping, and there's this little café where they make everything with fresh berries,' Hydie chirped.

'Sure thing, just call if you're going to be late,' mum said, and Hydie practically dragged me outside instantly.

'Hydie, is this really what we're doing today? You drag me around store to store all day? Because really, I'd rather stay home and have a nap,' I sighed.

'You're not staying home, we're going to that store so I can get that dress, and then we're going to that store and getting the cupcakes I ordered in yesterday. So I can wear said dress and gift said cupcakes when we go to Brendan's for lunch today.'

'Oh you little liar,' I grinned, before I realised something, 'Woah, hold up, I am not going to be a third wheel on you and Brendan's little date-'

'It's not a date Nixie! Yesterday I ran into him at the pier, he had this little Mudkip with him, and I have to go see that adorable little thing again!' Hydie said enthusiastically.

'Wait a Pokémon? Hydie, you do realise if we get caught, I'm going to get the blame for this, _as usual_? Even if both of us testify to the fact it was your idea, she's still going to punish me and tell you that you should pay less attention to me as I'm a "bad influence"' I began complaining.

But Hydie instantly cut across me and said, 'Well I figured you wouldn't mind if there was going to be a Torchic involved.'

'...A Torchic?'

'Yes, I looked it up last night on the Hoenn starter Pokémon, there'll probably be a Torchic there and I know how much you love fire types,' she coaxed.

I looked at the hopeful expression on her face, but eventually I couldn't help but crack and blurt out, '...Okay, you win, let's go!'

...

**Professor Birch's POV**

'Brendan I really don't understand why you're wiping down the table, just shove a table-cloth over it, I think we have one of those somewhere here-'

'Well knowing my luck it'll be already ruined, but at the rate you eat that wouldn't be a surprise,' Brendan reminded me.

I really hadn't seen Brendan get so desperate to impress a girl. I didn't see why he was fussing so much, he was a Birch for crying out loud, the ladies could not say no. That and he had a Pokémon that loved her, and the moods of Pokémon often reflected the moods of their trainers, and admittedly Mudkip wasn't actually Brendan's but he was the human who Mudkip spent the most time with, so it was pretty close. But either way, I'm perfectly comfortable sitting here, reading my paper, while Brendan freaks out.

'You really do need to calm down Brendan, you're going to give both of us a headache,' I sighed, squinting at some fine print.

Brendan gave me an annoyed look but went back to wiping down the table. I knew I wasn't helping, but where was it written that I had to? He also had yet to tell me if I was staying here or if he expected me to leave, because honestly he hadn't mentioned anything. It would be a complete Brendan thing to do to keep me here so it wasn't so obvious that he thought this was a date. But then again, it was also a complete him thing to do, to presume I knew to leave.

'Dad, can you run upstairs and check on Mudkip? You know how it likes to run off,' Brendan said desperately.

'Oh calm down, its over there at the foot of the stairs looking lost, I think it's looking for your girlfriend,' I commented, turning the page in my newspaper.

Brendan turned around, before he sighed heavily in exasperation and ran over towards Mudkip, scooping it up and instantly began lecturing it like a worried mother, 'You really have to stop doing that, I told you to stay upstairs-' Instantly Brendan cut off as he heard the doorbell ring on the floor before, and he swore loudly, 'Crap, she's here!'

He hustled upstairs with Mudkip to put it back in a place it would take a while to wiggle its way out of, while I looked out the window, 'Ah Brendan, I'm seeing double!' I called up to him.

'What?!' Brendan asked, only half hearing me as he clambered back up to the second floor.

'You never said anything about the sister coming, because there's definitely two of them out there, which one's the crush?'

Brendan ran to the window, sticking his head out it before pulling back and telling me, 'It's not a crush, and what is Nixie doing here-? Well I never said she couldn't come, and this is not a date, not a date,' the last little bit was muttered under his breath, clearly trying to remind himself, even as I shook my head at him.

'So does that mean I get to stay for lunch?' I asked.

'Well I wasn't exactly going to kick you out, I'll be right back,' he said bolting down stairs as the doorbell rang again.

'Well one things for sure, I have never seen him this worried about a "not a date" with a girl... and he is definitely my son.'

...

**Nixie's POV**

I rocked boredly back and forth on my feet, tapping my fingernails against my other arm. Hydie had a grin fixated on her face, like she was paranoid that if she didn't show Brendan how happy she was to come see over today, that he'd tell her to leave. But even as I rang the doorbell for the second time, and Hydie glared at me for being impatient, no one came to the door, and I was about to tell Hydie that she was wasting my time when I heard the sound of someone clambering down the stairs, and very quickly the door was wrenched open and Brendan stood their panting.

'Hi,' he breathed, 'Sorry, it's a little hard to hear the doorbell upstairs.'

'It's okay,' Hydie beamed, 'We brought cupcakes.'

She pushed the box into his arms, and he opened the lid to have a look and he smiled at her warmly, 'That's so nice. They look great Hydie, and so do you.'

Hydie giggled and blushed, 'I exist don't I?' I asked the air casually.

Brendan turned around, 'Sorry Nixie, I didn't realise you were coming-'

'Told you Hydie, this is a date, I really do not want to be the third wheel yet again!'

'This isn't a date,' both of them said quickly.

'Sure,' I drawled and Hydie glared at me once again, 'So where's the famous Mudkip? She didn't shut up about it the whole way here.'

'Oh that's upstairs, we have a room on the third floor for the Pokémon we're raising to stay,' Brendan explained hastily, 'Come on in.'

We followed Brendan in, continuing up the staircase until we got to the third floor, and when we entered, I was instantly confronted by the sight of a clearly advanced Pokémon laboratory. Most of the room was covered in steel panels, lining the floors, walls and ceilings. There were computers, a Pokéball transfer machine, a few things that reminded me of the thing behind the counter of Pokémon Centers, not that mum knew I'd been in one. There were other things that looked extremely high-tech and I honestly didn't know where to look, well that was until I saw in a small pen in the room, was a little Torchic.

I probably pushed past Brendan a little to enthusiastically, but the moment I set my eyes on that Torchic that I had to get a closer look, but I had barely gotten within a few feet of it when Brendan yelled out, 'Careful!'

'What?' I asked turning around and I could see the look of amusement on Hydie's face as she saw the disappointment on my own.

'You do not want to get to near that Torchic. Look when we got it, it blasted the first three trainers that came to see it with its ember, almost made one girl decide to not be a trainer, eventually it got too high-powered to give it to a beginner,' he explained hastily.

'That shows a clear lack of confidence on people who have never properly handled Pokémon before,' I said testily, looking at the Torchic, who was giving me a curious look which I'd always noticed fire-types giving me, well I guess they just sensed my condition.

'It's not, it's that we mostly tend to cater to ten-year-olds, and very few actually know too much at all about Pokémon when they first turn head out on their journeys,' Brendan explained.

I could tell almost instantly that he was trying not to offend me, he wasn't hiding it too well, he was searching my face for a reaction. And it only made it clearer that he definitely heard a bit the other day. I also was starting to wonder if he'd gotten Hydie to slip up and tell him something, I'm not saying Hydie was an idiot, she was a smart girl, but she wasn't the best person at keeping secrets, especially if you asked her a direct question. His searching look relented slightly when I met his gaze with a cold, sharp, "not now," stare.

'So where exactly is this Mudkip?' I asked casually before Hydie caught on to what was happening, she had no idea that Brendan had overheard me and our mother.

'Oh I put it back in its Pokéball,' he said hastily, before walking to the side of the room, and picking one up, marked with a water symbol, but then turned to Hydie and saying, 'Do you want to let it out?'

'Really?!' she chirped but without waiting for any other sign, took the Pokéball from his hand she looked super excited as she pressed the button and called, 'Mudkip, come on out!'

Then... nothing, absolutely nothing happened, and even as Hydie started looking crushed, Brendan swore and called down stairs, 'Dad!'

'It's down here!' came a voice that sounded a lot like Brendan's, but slightly deeper and more gruff.

'Oh for god's sake,' Brendan muttered, before yelling back down, 'Thanks!'

'Well?' I asked casually.

'Ah, this Mudkip's a bit of an escape artist, if we leave it in the pen, it'll escape, if we let it run around outside with the other Pokémon, it will break out and disappear for hours on us, and if we put it in its Pokéball, it lets itself our,' Brendan explained awkwardly.

Hydie brightened considerably, but she did still seemed slightly disappointed, no doubt she'd wanted a chance to let out a Pokémon like it was hers, well I did too admittedly but that wasn't the point. He led her downstairs, reassuring her cheerfully. But all I could think as they left, was how could they just leave Torchic there? It was clear that they hadn't entirely decided what to do with it. And if it kept attacking things, no wonder they were keeping it up here, but I couldn't help but move towards it.

'Hey there,' I said quietly.

I was moving to the edge of the pen kneeling down to its height to make sure it didn't freak. But as I reached out my hand it pecked the back of my hand and a small smear of makeup ended up on its beak. I swore slightly looking at the bright red markings on my skin that were visible. Sure it was waterproof, but that didn't exactly cover Torchic peck attacks. But that wasn't important now, I could cover it up quickly.

'Hey, hey, it's alright Torchic, look at me, hey, it's okay,' I soothed.

Torchic hesitated before slowly coming closer to me, pecking my hand, but gently, more curious, and when I didn't recoil, it rubbed its feathery face against my hand, 'Tor?' it asked me.

'Hey, it's okay,' I reminded, it was still looking at me with suspicion.

'...Chic Tor Tor,' it chirped, before pushing my hand with its head.

Very slowly gaining confidence with it, I slowly undid the clasp on the pen, and opened it up. Torchic was looking at me suspiciously, before it inched its way out, barely a couple of steps a minute, just coming slightly closer to me each time. Still touching my arm occasionally to make sure I wasn't going to hurt it, or do anything it didn't like.

'Hey Torchic,' I crooned as it came closer to me, and it stopped advancing slightly, 'Blast me with fire if you want, I don't mind.'

At those words, Torchic seeming to understand my tone, tottered a little closer to me and soon enough it was pretty much touching my knees. I was still careful, as I reached out and began patting it gently on the crest atop its head. It slowly relaxed, as I scratched its feathery head, and eventually it let me scoop it up into my arms, as I walked downstairs.

...

**Hydie's POV**

'So should I be worried about the fact that Nixie still hasn't come downstairs?' Brendan asked me.

I half looked up from where I sat on the ground, Mudkip curled in my arms, 'No, it's Nixie, she won't break anything, well not anything you could ever pin on her,' I told him, but when the look on his face told me that was not helpful, I laughed and insisted, 'Nothing to worry about, the Torchic will be the only thing she's interested in there.'

'But that Torchic will blast her with its ember attack or peck and scratch the hell out of her if she goes near it,' Professor Birch said looking worried.

'I have a feeling that it really won't be a problem,' I told him insistently, I couldn't tell them why I knew, but I was sure that it wouldn't be anything to worry about.

And of course, I was proven right within ten minutes later, Nixie came down stairs clutching the little Torchic who seemed perfectly happy in Nixie's arms. Brendan and Professor Birch's mouths dropped wide open, '...How the hell did you do that?'

'Oh this little thing is a sweetheart when you get to know it,' Nixie teased lightly, 'It's just paranoid.'

'So the Pokémon version of you?' I asked instantaneously.

Nixie pulled a face at me, but she didn't seem to care, more preoccupied with the Torchic, before smiling at Professor Birch, 'Hey there, I'm Nixie.'

'It's great to meet you Nixie, I'm-'

'I know perfectly well who you are, Professor Birch,' Nixie interrupted.

'Nyx,' I warned her.

She shot me yet another random face at me, but Professor Birch just laughed, 'Please call me Jeb, we've never been ones for formality in this house hold.'

'Deal,' Nixie grinned, taking a seat, still cuddling the Torchic, who even when she let it go didn't jump off her lap, just stayed there nuzzling it's head against her arm.

'You clearly have a gift with Pokémon, both of you,' Professor Birch laughed.

I looked at the little Mudkip which was running around be, jumping over my arms and legs, swatting me with its tail the moment it thought my attention was elsewhere, 'What do you mean?' I questioned.

'Well, those Pokémon haven't taken so well to anyone else before, that Mudkip only tolerates Brendan and I, and that Torchic doesn't like anyone,' he laughed, 'You two must have been great trainers when you went out on your journeys.'

'Dad,' Brendan said quickly, shooting him a warning look.

I watched for Nixie reaction, unable to bring myself to say anything, but she didn't seem all to surprised that Brendan had stopped him, like she figured he knew something, before she said casually, 'We've never been on our journeys, we never got around to that you could say.'

Both Birch's seemed to take it in stride, and I was so glad that Nixie had given them that version. Because Nixie could tell them so many things, some extremely accurate, others extremely ludicrous and far from the truth. Thing is, she'd actually told people the full story many times, because she knew they'd think she was joking, because without story, it honestly sounded like it was nothing but a big joke. I was really relieved it was just a "thing we hadn't gotten around to doing," rather than the truth.

'Really?' Professor Birch asked looking completely confused, 'Most kids can't wait to go-'

'Well when you've moved around as often as we have, traveling isn't exactly necessary, and our mother really wanted to further our education as well,' I lied hastily, 'Besides, we're not entirely sure how we'd go without the comforts of home.'

I could see Nixie's mouth curl slightly into a look of contempt. She knew I was using the same reasons that out mother used to keep us going. Reasons that we both knew were far from the point. I knew both of us were adventurous, smart and capable, we could do it, we could do it the moment we chose to, we were definitely capable of going when we were ten. It's been six years, I can tell why Nixie's restless.

'I'm sure the two of you would be fine, and if you were worried about going alone, you'd always have each other, don't forget that,' Jeb insisted.

'Sure, whatever,' Nixie said quietly.

'We'll go one day,' I said positively, hoping he'd ignore or not hear her, 'Just when the time is right.'

I couldn't help but feel like all hope was gone for this when I hear Nixie mutter, still firmly talking down as if to Torchic, 'If we're not dead first.'

...

**General POV**

The landscape was thick with white smokey clouds so thick that any other features were hidden. Light didn't seem to come from a single point; radiating from all angles, bouncing off all surfaces, shining through the clouds of smoke making it shimmer and glow. But two figures could be seen in the fog, straight dark brown hair, sharp blue eyes and the bodies of warriors, cloaked in flowing blue robes. Not with the look of siblings though, for they seemed to have a style of two different ages, two different points of time.

'We are running out of time Leith,' came the voice of the female, who was pacing back and forth impatiently 'We must activate her abilities.'

The male looked up at her, shaking his head stubbornly from where he stood looking completely calm, 'Salacia, we can not do it until it's necessary, as long as she knows of their potential, than there is no reason to activate them, she will know what to do if she is ever in danger-'

'Do not give me the same speech again Leith,' the brunette woman growled, 'We have less that a year until the awakening, we cannot waste anymore time! I am just as much her guardian as you are, I have just the same right that you do to make the decision to give her the power as you've decided for the last sixteen years to stop her having them!'

'Salacia, this is not a discussion we need to have again,' he said forcefully, glaring up at her with sapphire eyes, 'I am the more experience of the two of us, I lived for two centuries before you were born, I seen eight generations of the spirits of ocean, rivers and lakes pass before you came along-'

'Which means it's tired and tried, you don't know anything about modern times, you don't realise what's at stake if she isn't awoken-' She raged.

'Salacia! Leith!' came a call through the windless mist.

A glow of fiery reds, oranges and yellows slowly formed into two figures. Golden ringlets, sharp brown eyes, tanned skins and warriors built. Both of them were dressed in striking red, but unlike Salacia and Leith, their outfits were less flowing, not so much rigid, but they looked like they were made to specifically not get in their way or get caught in anything.

'Pyrrhos, Titaia, what is it? Salacia asked, looking bored.

'Well, while you are arguing over whether or not to activate your wards powers, we have a message to you about ours that you probably should watch out for,' Titaia began.

'You see Salacia, that's the sort of thing you have to go around explaining when you give someone their abilities to early-' Leith began even as Salacia glared at him to be silent.

'Is it our fault she was about to be killed by an Arbok? And that weird Toxicroak thing just was not helping the situation,' Pyrrhos spat, before smirking at Salacia and saying, 'Your little ward isn't gutsy enough to end up in a situation like that.'

'And you don't think that's my point brother?' she asked kicking Leith in the ankle, causing him to flinch but he didn't make any disturbance other than that, 'This one doesn't seem to realise that out of the three of them, she's the lest gutsy, she plays it safe-'

'What your dear little brother decided not to mention to you however, and what Leith interrupted me before I could say is, the way we've anticipated it. When she uses her powers, the events are going to trigger a series of events, and in the end, she finally gets to leave-'

'Which is their code for she's going to do it in public, again,' Leith commented, and this time instead of getting annoyed by him, Salacia laughed.

'Well this time its more so a "do it or die," situation rather than "the calmest person in the world would be annoyed with you now," if it makes any difference,' Titaia clarified.

'And the spirits of volcanos, inferno and wildfires are far from the most patient people on the planet,' Salacia laughed, 'But why are you telling us this? We usually just watch and learn, or are you telling Acacia and Zahir as well? Lord knows we haven't seen them since we realised the separation was going to last a long time.'

'Because it's not too much longer that it's going to last,' Pyrrhos cut in impatiently, 'When Phoenix gets to leave, and we all know that she's going to take that chance, your ward is only going to have one chance to go with her, and unless she takes it... then it's not looking good for the future.'

'The sake of the world has rested on the spirits of fire, water and grass since they were created by Arceus in the beginning of the universe. And once again it will,' Titaia said, 'And we have one opening that we have to take the moment it arises...'

'If she seems hesitant we shall activate her powers, but I'm afraid I'm not willing to appear before her, if they knew how we watched them, we might ruin it, we can not risk jeopardizing everything by having them realise why it is they can do what they can do,' Leith said quietly.

But Leith's promise seemed to only elevate Salacia's smugness as she said, 'And seeing as little Hydra has never been sure of what she's doing, looks like she's going to get her powers after all.'

**So the story of Nixie and Hydie continues, and something strange is definitely going on, I'd really like you to tell me what you think, and a review on this story would mean so much to me. Anything you have to say is welcome, any comments, criticisms, advice or quirks would be great to hear, see you next time:**

**xxo**

**Princess Selina**


	4. Fairground Folly

Chapter 4: Fairground Folly

**Nixie's POV**

Somehow, it's been nearly a month since moving to Littleroot, and even though I've told myself not to bother getting attached to it, it's been a very long time since I've enjoyed myself so much... it's almost as if I finally have a home. Don't get me wrong, my mother is still an absolute cow to me, threatening me the moment everyone is out of earshot that if I reveal my "abnormality" well, among kinder phrases, it will not end well. Does she really think I even know how I do that sort of thing? Does she not realise that I'm aware how the world would react to that? And now that I actually have friends, does she really think I would give that up?

And yes, you heard me right, friends, as in plural. Brendan has gone from spying on Hydie from a tree and totally creeping me out, to being a sweet guy, who really is a great friend, he and his dad act like brothers so it's funny to see them together, that and the fact he lets us come over to see Torchic and Mudkip whenever we want. He's introduced us to a few of his friends from town as well, which despite the fact I don't like to many people, I seem to get along with.

There's Ree, who is a very happy go lucky kind of person, but at the same time has a knack for mischief that has turned into a prank war between the two of us, which usually somehow ends up with Hydie getting slimed by something. There's Mitch, he's a bit of an ass, but he's got a knack for sarcasm and the most ridiculously hilarious sadistic sense of humor. There's his brother Danny who's a bit of a softy, he's always reading and he's an easy laugher, and he does at least try to tell his brother off when he's going a bit too far. There's also Gwen, who may be a little girlie, but she has a good heart and a rather twisted mind, well twisted in the way that she will do anything to win a bet, according to Brendan's stories she once pushed him into a river in the middle of winter to prove her insistence that when the water is cold enough, anyone will scream like a girl.

It's strange, I have friends, Hydie and I have finally agreed on a group of people that we like, although I'm pretty sure she'd hang around with the mafia if it meant Brendan would ask her out. He still hasn't, it's driving us all mad, I keep telling her to just do it herself, but the fact that I tell her "and if he says no; I'll beat the crap out of him," probably isn't convincing her that I have a point. She's far too stubborn... I guess it runs in the family, but eh, what can you do?

There's this little fare being held in town today, they've got circus acts and rides and junk food planned, thus I will follow the smell of fairy floss till the end of the earth. Hydie is squealing right now, because Brendan asked her if she wanted to go "with him", but the fact that she keeps on clarifying, "it's not a date," is clearly not what she thinks judging by the fact she's been fussing over finding the perfect outfit since about seven thirty this morning, and it's quarter to nine.

I've been sitting on her bed for the last half hour reading about a recent sighting of Entei in Saffron City in the Kanto region, it would sound legitimate to me if it wasn't by their gym leader Sabrina, something funny about me is that I have absolutely no trust in anyone who claims their a psychic. It's one thing to have telepathic communication with a psychic type Pokémon, to claim a mere human can use telekinesis or see the future is another.

'Nixie!'

I looked up to see Hydie looking at me for approval, she'd pulled her long brunette hair into a braid, with a string of blue cloth flowers running through it, before spinning it into a bun. She was wearing a high necked blue summer dress, with a thick black belt around her waist, with black knee high boots, which I knew were stolen from my cupboard,

'Nice, but those boots are too high, you're going to end up taller than him, besides you're going to get caramel apples speared on the heels,' I pointed out.

'...Right, practical before pretty, you've always been like that,' Hydie sighed pulling them off and selecting a pair of strappy black sandals.

'Not those either, you always get a blister from those because your little toe is so wonky.'

Hydie gave me a grouchy look, even as a smile played on the corner of her mouth, 'It wasn't me who dropped a brick on it when we were nine.'

'But it wasn't me who wouldn't let the doctor set it properly because it hurt too much even though mum gave you enough pain medication to pop out a twenty pound baby and not feel a thing.'

'That's disgusting Nixie-'

'But oddly true,' I sang which made her glare at me.

'...Which shoes?'

'The little boots, the wedge things, which you, Arceus knows how, convinced mum were for hiking?' I offered.

'...Why didn't I think of those before? Thanks Nixie!'

'Don't thank me for the advice, thank me for the fact that I've bothered to learn the language of fashion just to make you shut up faster.'

...

**Brendan's POV**

Ree was making a nuisance of herself as usual, she was climbing atop of tent that was set up to sell slushy drinks, and undoubtedly was going to ruin his business. Gwen and Mitch were death starting each other coldly, they were pissed at each other yet again, Mitch had won a bet with her which Gwen hated happening, and she had called him a prick, which he wasn't too happy to hear. Danny was trying his best to ignore them, focusing on helping a four year old who was crying at the top of his lungs to calm down, so he could find out who to belong to. It was definitely a less difficult task then getting in between Gwen and Mitch when they were in a mood. You could say it was a typical day.

I was lucky that Nixie and Hydie had gotten along so well with my other friends. It made it that much better an excuse to invite them along to things, especially Hydie. I originally wasn't too sure if Hydie would get along with them, I knew she probably would with Gwen, well if she's in a good mood, but Ree and Mitch especially are harder to handle, and Danny is polite to the point of annoyance, and Hydie seems to get frustrated when people treated her too nicely, especially in comparison to Nixie. Nixie I had a feeling pretty early on that she'd get along with them, I didn't mean it in a cruel way, but she seemed to be a bit of an outcast. And until they'd found each other, most of us had been. Hydie however, seemed too likeable for that… but maybe I'm bias towards her… probably.

I was starting to wonder when they'd arrive, when suddenly Gwen and Mitch began arguing even louder, 'Asshole!'

'Oh come on, just because I was right-'

'Shut up, I did not ask for your opinion!' Gwen snapped, tossing back the fringe of her cropped red hair.

'No one does, I wouldn't talk at all if I waited till someone asked!' Mitch said stubbornly, his eyes flaring with impatience.

'Ever considered that's why no one asks you?' came an amused tone.

I grinned and looked up to see Nixie standing there smirking, soda in one hand, fairy floss in the other, 'Hey Nixie,' came the loud chorus from me and my friends.

'Nyx,' Ree sang, skipping over, 'Want a slushy? It's Chili flavored!'

'But it's a blue slushy,' Nixie laughed, waiting for an explanation on what she'd done.

'Yeah but the vendor doesn't know what I've put in it yet,' Ree giggled.

'Of course he doesn't, and no, I'm good for now, but be sure to ask Hydie,' she grinned.

'Speaking of where's Hydie?' Gwen asked, stopping her insult charade with Mitch long enough to ask.

'She is currently drooling over a jewelry stand near the harbor,' she shrugged, before then deliberately drawling, 'You know, someone would have a much better chance of getting a date with her if they were to go show interest in her fascination with shiny objects.'

I could help but flush as Nixie smiled at me innocently, while Gwen and Ree started laughing at my discomfort, even Mitch cracked a half smirk, and judging by the near sympathetic look on his face Danny had heard as well. I glared vaguely in the direction of Nixie, who just smile at me with a supreme air, before I decided that I wasn't taking it so easily.

'I can head over there with you, I said I'd meet Hunter over there anyway,' I smirked.

'Who?' Nixie asked confusedly.

'A friend from my days traveling, I thought you two would get along,' I commented, 'He got to the top four in last year's Unova competition.'

'Riley Hunter?' she asked sharply, 'The one with the Rapidash and the Steelix with a head the size of a regular house?'

'Yup, that's him; you really do follow the leagues religiously don't you?' I asked innocently.

'Oh come on that's obvious!' Nixie insisted, 'Where is he?'

'Don't start fan girling before you've even met him Nyx. Come on, this way.'

…

**Hydie's POV**

I was probably to entranced by the jewelry stand, but every piece was glistening with the shards found in the bay. Shining with reds, yellows, greens and blues, they were polished till they glowed and cut into perfect shapes. I was having trouble figuring out which one I wanted to buy, they were reasonably expensive, so I could only have one thing, but still, they were so gorgeous.

'Buy a necklace Hydie, your earring rack is overflowing,' came a judgmental comment from an all to familiar voice.

'Oh shut up Nixie,' I called back without looking up.

'Is that any way to talk to someone who has a gift for you?' she asked.

'I don't want a kebab Nixie, it's too early in the morning,' I sighed, turning around.

That was when I noticed that she'd brought Brendan with her, knowing Nixie, that was her "present." God she was shameless. I felt my cheeks flush bright pink, and as much as I hoped it wasn't noticeable, I very much doubt it was.

'Uh, hi Hydie... you look great,' Brendan commented awkwardly.

My blush only got worse, he really hadn't needed to say that, as glad as I was to hear it, but Nixie distracted him before my blush got much worse, 'I bought you to your girlfriend, now where's your friend?'

'Right, right, he told me he'd be around near the docks, if we walk that way we'll be able to find him pretty quickly,' Brendan began.

'Who are we talking about?' I asked, not quite understanding.

'Brendan forgot to mention until this morning that he's knows one of the world's upcoming Pokémon Masters, also the fact that he's in town and planning on meeting up with him,' Nixie said glaring at him, clearly offended that he hadn't mentioned this to her before.

'Oh really, which one?' I laughed, the expression on Brendan's face was so cute, I know he was slightly scared of Nixie right now, the venom in her eyes enough to make anyone flinch.

'Riley Hunter, he was in the Unova Top 4, I showed you a picture of him with his Starmie and you practically swooned, but whether it's over the water-type or the trainer I was never sure,' Nixie said innocently.

I ignored her last comment, even as Brendan raised an eyebrow slightly, 'Oh yeah I remember, you nearly smashed the TV at three in the morning when his Shiftry lost to the Skarmory. Nearly woke mum up, that wouldn't have ended well.'

Nixie poked her tongue out at me immaturely, 'So you're quite a fan,' Brendan observed.

Nixie instantly swatted him across the top of his head, and he laughed it off, grinning at her a further mischievous glint growing in his eye, before he walked towards me, 'So which one were you thinking of buying?'

'Oh I have no idea, they all look so pretty,' I laughed, surprised he was taking interest.

'What about this one?' he asked, pointing to a pale blue shard on a simple silver chain.

'It's shaped like a snowflake,' I giggled, picking it up to examine it, before I grinned, 'You're right, it's perfect, I've got to have it. This must have taken hours to carve.'

But before I could say anything else Brendan turned to the stand's owner and said, 'We'll have this one thanks,' and before I could protest, Brendan handed over the money for the necklace.

'Hey, you don't have to pay for me-' I began but he just laughed at me.

'Hydie relax, my dad gives me a generous allowance for helping him out at the lab, and I have nothing to spend it on, besides knowing you the amount of shopping you do today will break the bank,' he laughed, 'Relax Hydie, I want to buy it for you.'

I was starting to smile, and I glanced over at Nixie who was giving me a "well Princess?" look, that I'd learned to recognise. She wanted me to make a move before I complained later that he didn't like me, and before I could talk myself out of it, I pecked Brendan on the cheek. It almost looked like he might have blushed, but it was such a hot day that it wasn't the only logical explanation.

'Thanks Brendan, really, thanks,' I grinned.

'Ah, no problem,' he offered weakly.

'Oh and I thought he couldn't be anymore hopeless at this sort of thing.'

I jumped slightly, and Brendan this time I was sure actually blushed when we both turned around to see standing barely a meter from us was a guy around our age, maybe a little older, 'This your girlfriend Brendan?' he asked smirking.

He was tall having a good few inches on Brendan, with a slim build, shaggy dirty blonde hair and bright green eyes. Dressed in a black jacket and pants with a simple white t-shirt. Several Pokéballs with a black and yellow design hung from his hip, along with a Pokédex and a Pokénav.

'What would give you that idea?' Brendan asked almost a little too quickly, crap does he know that I like him?

'Oh, no reason, now come over here and greet your old rival properly,' he laughed.

Brendan laughed before moving over to him and doing one of those typical male hugs that involved trying to break each others spines by smacking each other on the back, 'girls, this is my friend Hunter.'

I grinned at him, and offered my hand to shake, 'Hey, I'm Hydie.'

'Great to meet you, Brendan's mentioned you quite a bit lately,' he said smiling with dazzlingly white teeth as he shook my hand.

Nixie stepped forward slightly, but didn't put out her hand, 'I'm Nixie, I've saw you competing in the Vertress Conference last year.'

'Oh really, do I have a fan?' he asked smarmily.

'You do realise why you lost though right?' Nixie fired back not fazed for a second.

'Oh really and why is that?' he asked, twitching slightly.

'If you'd used Leech Seed earlier in the battle whether it was overly effective or not it still would have weakened it and immobilized it enough for you to win in the end-'

'Who the hell do-'

'And if you had bothered to teach it Extrasensory then there would have been next to no problem,' Nixie told him calmly.

'...You're a smart ass, you know that?' he stated after a few seconds of gaping at her.

'Oh I have no delusions about my personality,' Nixie said innocently, 'But I also am perfectly aware that I'm completely right.'

'Oh really? Then where's your league placing?' he asked her snarkily.

'I'm not allowed near Pokémon, but that doesn't mean I don't know what I'm talking about,' Nixie said ever so calmly.

I couldn't help notice that Brendan glanced at me, why couldn't Nixie just keep her mouth shut? For the last couple of weeks, she'd done nothing but keep hinting at Brendan why we hadn't been on our journey yet. It was almost like she expected that he knew already. And Brendan kept on looking at me like he was hoping I'd explain it to him, but I just couldn't tell him the truth, he'd never believe me, no one would _ever _believe me.

'Well if you insist on correcting me constantly I might as well try to find some way to put your overly judgmental opinions to good use, want a candy apple?' he asked Nixie with a shake of his head.

'Of course I do, but can we swing by the slushy stand first?'

'Why?'

'Have you met Ree?' Nixie asked him.

He grinned slightly before saying, 'Okay do I want to know what she's done this time?'

'I want to see the show when the stall owner finds out, does that make me a bad person? Probably, do I care? Nope!'

'...Okay, I've got to see this,' Hunter laughed.

Nixie and Hunter ran off through the crowd and I looked up at Brendan, noticing him looking down at me with a bit of a weird look on his face, 'Do you want to go for a walk?' he asked.

'Ah sure, lead the way.'

* * *

Hello all my lovely readers;

I, Princess Selina, made a pledge to update all my individual stories today, and I managed to complete my task. All four fanfictions have been updated, and if you like my writing style, if you like how I tell my stories, then go check out;

Eclipsed By Fate

The Eclipse Islands

Guardian of the Evening Star

Or in other news, see my original story (co-authored with Allison Shorecoat) and my brand new obsession, **_Zero Hour_**, look us up as "Knowing What Fuzzy Means" on Fictionpress, Readwave and NovelJoy, as well as under "Fuzzywuzzywoo," on Wattpad. Whichever site is to your taste, go check it out.

Lots of love

Please do review

Princess Selina


	5. Burning and Blazing

Chapter 5: Burning and Blazing

**Brendan's POV**

The Littleroot Fair was slowly coming to a close, and I now sat with Nixie, Hydie and Hunter at a small table outside a café in the centre of town. I honestly by this point thought that Nixie and Hydie would have run out of stories about them playing up, but they hadn't. And I was enjoying every minute of it.

'So Hydie and I were hiding in the cupboard trying to avoid letting our teacher know what we'd done to dismantle the computer system-' Nixie was laughing.

'Wait why did you two do that?' Hunter asked.

'Don't ask me, this is just what happens when a new school is less than welcoming to us. Besides, it was Hydie's idea.'

'Was not!'

'Was so!'

'Well, alright, but I wasn't serious,' Hydie insisted stubbornly.

Nixie pouted at her sister mockingly and went back to her story, 'So we're still in the cupboard, its hours before we're supposed to be at school because it was a half day. So Hydie decides the best way to get us out of there is to prank call the teacher and make him go home-'

'How'd you get his number?'

'Oh we always have things like that for our own evil purposes,' Hydie giggled, and I couldn't help but how adorably her nose crinkled when she laughed.

'So Hydie makes the call, and somehow manages to convince him is Mareep herd had got out. So he ran off and we managed to leave, and then we overheard him telling another teacher before we got into class that afternoon that "some kid must have got his phone number to prank call him because he somehow he'd ran halfway home before he remembered he didn't even have any Mareep."'

'You convinced him of that?' I asked, seeing Hydie in a new light as she smiled mischievously at me.

'He was a gullible fool it really wasn't too hard,' she giggled, 'When Nyx and I got back to the classroom, we were waiting until he asked everyone to go use the computers.'

'And when he did everyone was complaining that the only thing that happened no matter what they tried was a picture of him combined with rather… unsightly Pokémon flashed up on the screen when they hit any of the keys,' Nixie smirked.

'Did they ever find out you'd been the ones to do it?' Hunter laughed.

'Of course not, we covered our tracks really well,' Hydie grinned.

'I never took you for a computer whiz,' I couldn't help but comment.

'Nixie and I have far too much free time on our hands, she religiously follows Pokémon trainers, I learn how to mess with technology,' Hydie smiled at me, and I felt my hear skip a beat instantly.

Nixie and Hunter burst out laughing, seeming to realize what was going on in my brain, but I tried to ignore them as best I could, they'd been doing this all afternoon, 'So Hunter,' I began, trying to change the line of conversation, 'What do you think you'll do now that you've gone through Unova?'

'I think I might take a shot at the Hoenn League again, god knows I blew it last time I was here,' he laughed.

'What happened?' Nixie asked seeming confused.

'I got slaughtered in the prelims by someone who didn't even make it through the qualifiers,' he admitted, 'Think I might go and try my luck at a few of the out of the way gyms to earn my way to the Ever Grande Conference, and this time get a better place.'

'The Ever Grande Conference finished less than a month ago, it is nearly a year away,' Nixie reminded, who I had no doubt spent most of the conference days glued to the TV, 'It's a bit of a wait.'

'But it's plenty of time to train and travel, and get some new Pokémon who can do it with me,' he laughed.

'Phoenix. Hydra. What are you two doing?' Came a sharp voice.

Both twins looked around in alarm both having the expression of people who'd been caught doing something they knew they shouldn't be doing. And I noticed that this was a look that always meant one person when it came to Nixie and Hydie, and I was proven right when coming up to us was their mother.

Caroline came waltzing up to the table, a sickly sweet smile plastered onto her face, but her eyes were narrowed onto Nixie like she was going to kill her, 'Hi mum,' Hydie said but Nixie didn't respond.

Hydie was left to stall however so she said, 'You remember Brendan right?'

'Yes. I do,' she said shortly, and I tried to give her a polite smile but it must have come out more like a grimace.

'And this is one of his friends Hunter,' she said still looking awkward.

'Nice to meet you ma'am,' Hunter said with his remarkable manners that always irritated me, as he quite calmly stood and shook her hand.

'Pleasure,' Caroline replied, before turning to look at her daughters, 'Have you two been behaving?'

Her tone suggested she was joking but I knew that she was far from it; and it was the first time Nixie spoke up, 'Yes mum, and we'll be home before nine and I won't go near the Pokémon, can you please just leave me alone?'

Caroline looked irritated that Nixie was speaking to her this way in public, but seeing as I kept on smiling, Hunter wasn't flinching and Hydie had gone completely blank faced, she couldn't do anything to intervene. She gave a false laugh and another overly large smile and walked off, waving over her shoulder. But the moment she was gone; Hunter raised an eyebrow at us;

'Not meaning to sound rude but I have no other way to put this; what the hell was that?'

'The beast was my mother,' Nixie commented, not seeming concerned, slurping at the remains of her drink.

'…I see… And what was that line about not going near P-'

'Not going to talk about it Hunter,' Nixie muttered irritably.

Hunter seemed to understand and said, 'I'll go get you another one of those,' before walking off.

'Are you two okay?' I asked hesitantly, unable to help myself, they both looked so upset.

'We're fine, apart from those twenty seconds it's been a great day,' Hydie assured me, but I almost swallowed my own tongue when she touched my hand lightly from where it sat on the table.

'Yeah, it's been kinda fun,' Nixie smiled, seeming genuinely sincere.

I also couldn't help but ask her one other thing, 'You and Hunter seem to be getting along.'

It wasn't exactly a question, I know that, but I was getting to it, even as Nixie said, 'Yeah, he's such a nice guy, and he doesn't seem to be annoyed by me constantly quizzing him on everything to do with the leagues.'

'I thought you two might hit it off,' I smiled, but Nixie looked up instantly, seeing through my intentions almost instantly, I really should not bother to hide things from her.

'Oh for god's sake Brendan, we're you trying to set me up with him?' she questioned sharply.

'Well…' I said, unable to exactly state it, but I couldn't quite understand why Hydie started laughing so hard.

'You know Brendan, that was a pretty well thought out premise,' Nixie commented, swirling the tip of her finger in a small bowl of ketchup, 'He's smart, funny, attractive, a great Pokémon trainer and friend, but you seem to have completely discounted one thing when playing matchmaker.'

'What?' I asked, not entirely understanding.

'I don't think Hunter's boyfriend would approve,' Nixie stated casually.

'Pardon?' I asked, not entirely sure what she was talking about.

'You do know Hunter's gay right?' Hydie asked, nodding along with what Nixie had stated.

'He is?' I asked; how would they know? He'd never said anything like that to me.

'He's not exactly closeted Brendan, he was talking about his boyfriend to me this morning, and in one of the interviews during the Unova league, god you're ignorant,' Nixie laughed, 'you honestly didn't know?'

'Brendan didn't know what?' Hunter asked as he sat back down.

'That you're gay,' Nixie said casually.

'Oh come on, everyone knows that,' Hunter smirked, completely un-offended and finding this turn of events just as funny as Hydie and Nixie were.

The three of them were laughing while I sat their feeling like an idiot. Probably should have noticed that… Shit, I'm never going to live this down… I should stay out of the matchmaker business before I get worse than Emma Woodhouse; that would be disastrous.

…

**Hydie's POV**

Brendan and I had gone off on another walk, while Nixie had gone with Hunter who wanted to catch up with Ree, Gwen, Mitch and Danny. I was kind of glad when Brendan had asked if they we wanted to go for a walk, we meaning all of us, Hunter had decided he had something else to do. I don't think he necessarily had the same intentions of leaving Brendan and I alone as Nixie did when she jumped at the chance to go with him, but I'm glad he did.

I really did like Brendan, I couldn't help it, he just had this weird magnetism about him that I couldn't quite seem to get rid of. I knew it was a crush, but I really didn't want to tell Nixie that. Not that there was any point denying it, she knew I was lying, she always knew. Part of me wondered if Brendan could read me the same way Nixie could, because he always seemed to know a little more than I thought he did. Especially when it came to my past.

'You okay Hydie? You're a little quiet,' he asked.

'Oh I'm fine,' I said hastily.

But he smiled at me gently and said, 'Hydie, we both know that's not true.'

'I'm just a little out of it I guess, nothing to worry about,' I assured,

Part of me kind of liked the idea of having him worried about me, not a very good part, but a part none the less. Brendan nodded, before falling silent, and that was when I realized that we'd barely been talking the last ten minutes of our walk. It wasn't just me who was quiet, it was him as well.

'You're just as quiet as me, is there anything you want to tell me Brendan?' I asked.

'Tell you? No... But ask you... kinda...' he said hesitantly.

'What is it?' I asked.

I was hoping that he was finally going to ask me if I wanted to be more then friends. But I hated the part of my brain that instantly jumped to that conclusion. Part of me was wishing I could be more like Nixie; she didn't jump to the gooey emotional side until she received a direct statement. And then she was likely to jump to needing that in writing. Even so, what Brendan asked me, I couldn't have been prepared for.

'Hydie... I've tried to be patient; I've tried to wait till you're ready to tell me but... I need to know, why are you really not allowed to go on your Pokémon journey? What the hell is going on between Nixie and your mother? Why doesn't she act the same towards you? And how do both you and Nixie pretend like you don't care?'

'...That's not something... that's everything,' I whispered.

I couldn't tell him, there were things that just couldn't be told. Things that shouldn't be said out loud or even thought about too much. Norman didn't know about it; and neither did May and Max. I couldn't tell him, I couldn't.

'Hydie please-'

'You don't understand Brendan; you're asking all the questions I can't answer. I'm so sorry,' I attempted.

'It's not right, for you two to be stuck like you are, when you're worth so much more,' he said and I could feel my heart melt into a puddle at my feet.

'Brendan, it's not my choice... I don't mind it, I can take it... It's Nixie that's stuck, I guess if it was just me I could go... the problem is that if it wasn't for me she would go,' I said, not really knowing that was about as close as I'd gotten to telling anyone.

'So all I can know is Nixie's really the one who's not allowed to go, you're technically allowed but you don't want to go without her,' he said, somehow getting that from the mess, and I nodded slightly, 'And Nixie has no problem with leaving, except she doesn't want to leave without you.'

'...I guess...' I whispered.

'Then why don't you both go?' he asked, and I couldn't really respond because I didn't even know why myself.

'Because I feel like I can't leave, whether I want to or not. In her twisted own way, our mother is doing what she does out of love. I love my mother, I know that, whether she deserves it or not I love her.

'Hydie-' Brendan tried to interrupt me, but I just felt like I couldn't stop.

'I don't want to leave May and Max, they don't even know the truth, let alone Norman. And seeing as there is no way mum would tell them I feel like I couldn't leave them without them knowing why I have to go.'

'Hydie-' he tried again, but I just kept talking

And truth be told I'm enjoying myself too much here to go. I can settle somewhere and be happy quickly, Nixie can't; all she's thinking of is escape rather than what we're getting here. I'm having fun, I like it here, I like being around all of you.'

'Please Hydie-'

'And even as I'm saying all of this I'm not entirely sure if these are legitimate reasons or if I'm just making excuses. Because as time goes by they just make me think I'm more and more pathetic for thinking I should stay. Even though it really doesn't do me any good to stay and-'

I was so distracted by my ranting that I didn't even realize how much I was interrupting Brendan at all. But what felt like completely out of the blue for me; Brendan grabbed my arms and shook me until I stopped talking.

'Hydie, calm down, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have gone there. I'm sorry,' he insisted.

I couldn't help but stare into his eyes, he seemed so sincere, and I did realize I kind of had freaked on him. They glowed green and seemed to be lit with concern, and honestly part of me was melting. He sighed deeply now that I'd calmed down, before smiling at me gently, and taking my hand;

'The parade is about to start, do you want to go see it?'

'Sure, I'd love to.'

...

**General POV**

Hydie and Brendan were standing on the main road of Littleroot where the parade was about to start. Kids from the local schools, the families of people who ran the festival as well as volunteers from around the neighborhood traditionally dressed up in bright colours and danced down the main road to end the festival. They were standing in the crowd; the stands were set up on the left side of the road, leaving the large masses of people standing near the cliff side on the right side of the road. They could see a few of the others in the crowd, but didn't really bother to move to them. They were too happy standing together, holding hands as the anticipation built up through the air.

'Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls of Littleroot Town,' came a loud voice of the speakers, 'Allow me to announce it is time for the Littleroot Fate to close, please welcome our amazing cast of helpers in the Littleroot Parade!'

A loud uproar of applause went up from the crowd and the music started blasting through the stereo system. Coming down the street came a group of at least a hundred people, ranging in ages from about five to ancient. They were all dancing in sync, in a routine that looked like it should have been practiced a little better, but was still entertaining.

But over the loud, thumping music, no one seemed to notice the dust slowly coming off the large cliff face behind them. Everyone was so distracted, dancing around to the music that only a few people started to turn around when a few stray pebbles began dropping to the ground. The people at the back of the crowd were the only ones who had turned around in time to see the rocks falling, before someone screamed.

The loud piercing scream cut through the cheering and the music like fire against ice, as a single person probably saved dozens of lives as they yelled out, 'Landslide!'

Everyone instantly panicked, and began running across the road, sprinting for their lives, as bigger and bigger rocks started falling. It started with rocks around the size of tennis balls but bit by bit the rocks increased in size to humongous boulders falling. Everyone was running for their lives down the hill and up the next one. But as Hydie and Brendan reached where they knew they would be safe, that's when they realized that something was gravely wrong.

In the dip between two hills, directly in the path of the landslide, Nixie had stopped to get Max. Her little step brother had fallen over and Nixie had rushed to try to get him out of there. As she pulled him up, she'd been struck hard by some debris slightly ahead of the landslide, knocking her over.

'Run Max! Run!' she screamed.

Max did as he was told running for his life up the hill, still thinking that Nixie was following him, not having seen her fall. And Hydie let out a piercing scream of terror as she saw the rest of the avalanche of stone coming for Nixie, and it was only Brendan holding her back. He knew they couldn't get to her in time, even a Pokémon wouldn't have time to get out of its Pokéball and grab her before it hit.

'Nixie!

…

**Hydie's POV**

I couldn't believe it, a landslide! In Littleroot Town, the place where nothing happens, they have a massive landslide when hundreds of people are standing under the cliffs. Brendan and I had been practically leading the way on the run, we'd managed to get to higher ground quickly, and swarms of people were following us. But as we stopped running, turning around, I saw Max trip and fall.

I froze in fear, until noticing Nixie running to him, she scooped him up, pulling him up to his feet, but while Max wasn't looking a stone hit Nixie in the back and with a yelp of pain she fell. But still she screamed for Max to run, and him, not knowing what had happened, he obeyed, but Nixie was still on the ground.

The thought of Nixie being buried alive, pummeled until she bled, smothered till she died… It was enough to get me to try to run to her, but even as I screamed her name and started forward, Brendan grabbed me around the waist, yelling to me that it was too late. But I didn't care, I had to get to her, I had to save her. I kicked and punched and swung and screamed but he still didn't let me go; only holding onto me tighter and tighter as Nixie struggled and failed to get to her feet.

But when I thought all hope was lost, that was when it happened again. As dirt, mud and bits of stone were now mere millimeters from Nixie, it happened again. What I couldn't tell Brendan, what made mum keep us here, what was so strange that I couldn't even say out loud and consider I was going mad. It happened again.

Nixie was suddenly enveloped in a ruby red glow, that made all the debris and rocks fling backwards from her and in a strange trance-like state, she stood. She didn't seem to feel any pain from her previous injuries as she got to her feet. But her once brown eyes were glowing in the bright red that had only been shown in hints before. And even as the debris swirled around her on the ground, the red glow generated rings of fire that spun around her, and she began to change.

Her hair which had been straightened and dyed brunette, began to change until it was a brighter golden blonde then the sun, springing into tight ringlets that lengthened and swirled around her as she floated into the sky. Even though she had been wearing jeans and a t-shirt before, it slowly changed into a strange outfit; that mum had shredded and destroyed every time this had happened before, but came back more and more elaborate and older each time. Her skin took on a darker shade of tan than it had been before, every scratch, every scar, every bruise on her body disappeared. But as the makeup she'd been wearing to cover it up dissolved in the flames surrounding her, the mark reappeared, more visible than ever.

A strange mark started on her index finger, coming across her palm and running along her right arm. Looping around up onto her shoulder, around her neck, inching itself onto her face where it curled just beneath her eye. Another line ran across her stomach and across her hips to where it swirled around her left leg finally finishing at her ankle. The mark was like an extremely vibrant tattoo of swirling reds, oranges and yellows swirling like fire, seeming to flicker and glisten on her skin, and shift and change in the colours in the light of the fiery rings that surrounded her.

As the landslide finally stopped, with no one more than mildly injured, all eyes were fixated on Nixie, still hovering their, still glowing, fire rippling around her, as she floated back to the ground landing atop a large boulder. She stood there, feet bare, eyes now tightly shut, but still within some sort of trance.

A tight black choker was around her neck, where a glowing ruby pendant hung, while large, gold, gypsy earrings swung from her ears. Her outfit was the strangest thing, it almost seemed otherworldly, but embracing a strange kind of elegance. A high-wasted red skirt had a large gold belt like armor around her hips. The finishing hem was on a diagonal, but to compensate for the shorter length of the skirt, from her hips came a transparent red second skirt that fell to her ankles. The top itself was rather complex, a dark red tube top with a large sweetheart neckline with long poofy sleeves in the same colour as the top, with elaborate gold embroidery on the top of the sleeves. A second gold armor like plate was attached to the bottom of the top, but still bent in a way that part of her midriff was exposed. The last piece of the outfit was a transparent red wrap that was draped over her shoulders, but it wasn't until Nixie opened her eyes, that I even noticed that for the first time, a single ruby was stuck to the middle of Nixie's forehead.

I know that she didn't mean to do this, Nixie hated it, she didn't like being controlled. But I wish she could manage it, I wish she could keep it in, I wish this made sense. She'd been doing this for years and now, when I thought everything was looking like it was going to be fine, she does it again.

And as everyone stared at her sister, before some started to look at me, and my heart was slowly splitting in two as I whispered, tears steaming down my face no matter how much I tried to keep them in, '…Not again…'

…

**Nixie's POV**

As the crowd stared at me, I bit my lip gently to control the scream of anguish that was bound to be let loose. I'd done it again. I knew what had happened, I'd known the entire time what I was doing but I just didn't seem to have the capacity to stop myself. This had been happening every now and then for years. Ever since I was seven years old this had been happening a few times a year; I'd freak out or lose my temper or hit a state of hysterics and this would happen. I hadn't had an attack like this in over two years ago, long enough that May, Max and Norman hadn't needed to know about it.

I didn't understand it, how one second I could just be angry and the next second I was on fire. When I was in these trances… well not so much trances, I knew what was happening the whole time, I'd hear voices, voices that spoke of things so wondrous I couldn't explain, in a language I understood but couldn't speak or identify.

But here I was, no doubt about to get everyone uprooted again… if mum let be back in the house. Last time this had happened, I'd been locked in my room for over month, no contact with the outside world except for about two minutes a few times a day when my mother would bring in a tray of food, and shout abuse at me all the while. Towards the end, Hydie was allowed to bring me food, and talk to me for a while, but she was quickly taken out. I was only allowed out when mum announced we were moving and we left in the middle of the night, where no one would see my face. But that was that was nearly two and a half years ago, and both Hydie and my mother seemed to have forgotten about that.

Everyone was staring at me, like I was some sort of freak, like I was a monster, like it had been me who had caused the rockslide. Max and May were standing together on the hill, both looking completely shocked, like everything they knew had changed like reality had just been altered. I could see the faces of my friends, who looked like they just couldn't comprehend what had just happened. Brendan looked like someone had just taken a mallet to his head from where he stood, arms around Hydie's waist. But it was Hydie that was the important face to me.

She just stood there, mouth slightly open, tears running down her face. She didn't seem surprised, just disappointed, she seemed utterly crushed, knowing how this would affect us… affect her. She looked at me, sapphire eyes shining with grief as she mouthed to me, "How could you?" I knew that this would affect her a lot more than it would affect me; she cared what other people thought about her. And I only really cared about what she thought of me.

But even so, I couldn't take being stared at like I was a monster, like I was a freak. And that was when I turned around, and taking a deep breath, I ran off. Part of me was already planning on never coming back.


	6. Flight of the Phoenix

Chapter 6: Flight of the Phoenix

**Nixie's POV**

I was running and running and running. I didn't know where I was going; I didn't know where I could go. All I knew is that I couldn't stop. I didn't want to stop because if I stopped, I'd be forced to think. Think about all the things that I didn't want to think about. Think about how chances were, I was going to have to go to my mother and beg for forgiveness.

But I didn't want to go home; I wanted to be anywhere but there. I'd been running for at least a few hours, running around in circles, they would be home by now. Mum would be there; and Norman would be home by now as well. May and Max would be there, no doubt begging for answers... answers they couldn't possibly understand, because we didn't have them. And Hydie?... She'd be at home as well; she wouldn't have wanted to answer the questions she no doubt would be asked the longer she stuck around.

I knew how it would go down usually. Mum would yell and scream and rage for days on end. She'd force me to take off whatever outfit that I'd got in the transformation, and she'd do whatever it took to destroy it, and whatever she hadn't been able to destroy, because it was very, very hard as it turned out, she'd get rid of. She'd shred it, burn it, take a hammer to it, anything that would possibly damage it, and what she couldn't destroy... It would end up buried, thrown into an ocean, a river or a landfill... she would do anything to get rid of the proof of my "great misfortune." And that was the nicest phrase she'd ever used to describe it.

I'd had illness, disease, abnormality, infection, defect, deformation, mutation, freakishness, monstrosity, freak of nature. And that was just the beginning, the rest of the time she seemed to be convinced that it was just something I was doing to spite her... While she destroyed my outfit, I'd be locked not just in my room, if she decided I was too close to Hydie or someone else, she'd put me somewhere else. Sometimes it was in a cupboard, a pantry, or if I was lucky, the basement or the attic.

When she was done, which took hours sometimes, she'd return, and when she was sure Hydie was asleep, she'd started threatening me, saying that if I ever did this again, she'd have me put in a psyche ward. Or she'd have me arrested; I had hurt people in this state before. She even threatened to abandon me once or twice, but that was when I was a little younger, before she realised I was starting to want that.

Then I'd be locked in my bedroom, the amount of time I was allowed out getting smaller and smaller as it kept happening. Until she found a new place for us to live, she'd change our last name and then we'd move. And we'd never go back to that place again, it was just how it was. It was an endless cycle.

For a while, I'd thought I was finally rid of whatever made me do this. I'd gotten better at controlling my temper, I'd done my best to stay away from danger and I tried to handle my compulsion to explore these abilities. But there were some things that just weren't on my side when it came to this.

I know what caused the landslide, I had a lot of time to think about it while I was running around, avoiding everyone, avoiding thinking about my predicament directly. It had been raining for the last couple of days; it must have gotten into the cracks on the cliff. The extra force from the loud music through the dodgy sound system must have been enough to shake a few things loose, and once it was loose, things started to fall to pieces.

But I was running out of things to stall myself with, I'd been gone for hours. And at the very least, it was time to go home, to stop Norman, May and Max from forming the same opinions of me if I could help it. But part of me wanted to just keep running, and running forever, leave this situation with my family behind, forever. I didn't deserve this, I knew that much, but sometimes... you just have to go back to the devil you know.

...

**Hydie's POV**

I had never been more worried in my life. Nixie had been gone for nearly four and a half hours; it was nearly eleven at night. Where was she? Why couldn't she just come home already?

When she first activated the strange power things today, all my thoughts had been entirely selfish. I thought about how it would affect me, and how everyone would think of me, because she was my sister. But now, more than anything, I wanted her to come back.

I know that next to mum, she hated this thing more than anybody else could. I knew she was fascinated by it, but she would never intentionally do this. Could she have just run off? Forever? Nixie had told me so many times she wanted to run away, see the world, see a world where this wouldn't happen, where she wasn't judged for being different. It wasn't too hard at all to believe that she'd just run away and never come back.

But I didn't want her to go, I couldn't stand the idea of being apart from her. I needed her. Nothing felt right, nothing made sense at all if she wasn't there. She couldn't go, she wouldn't go... at least not without saying goodbye... please I'm praying that she doesn't leave.

Mum had sent May and Max to their rooms the moment we got in the door, and she'd sent me up with them. She hadn't been there, but she had already had people come around and start asking questions by the time we got home. I'd been able to hear May through the wall, she'd been crying for a very long time, but she had fallen silent by now. She must be asleep now, too exhausted by everything that had happened today to have the energy to keep going. Max probably wasn't awake either, he would have tried to find out how this was all possible, by re-reading his books, and looking it up on the internet, but there were no answers there. I'd already looked. He was probably fast asleep on top of a book by now, glasses half slipped off his face, which was a typical Max thing to do.

But that was when I heard the door close, and hastily I sat up, could that have been Nixie? I opened the door to my room, creeping over to the stairs, and standing in the doorway, it was undoubtedly Nixie standing in the door. She looked like some sort of goddess right now, blank faced, eyes quaking with suppressed rage, seeming to know exactly how this was going to turn out.

Her skin was glistening in sweat; her feet which must have been bare this whole time were scuffed and covered in mud. It was clear from the way she was standing she had some serious blisters, but I doubted she cared. She was just staring at our mother, who was slowly moving towards Nixie, looking completely dangerous.

'Don't you dare wake May, Max and Hydie up Phoenix.'

'I wasn't planning on it, they don't need to be a part of this. Besides, it's you that always starts the yelling, remember?' Nixie asked in a deathly calm, that despite her nature of fire, cast chills through me.

'Don't you dare speak to me like that Phoenix, don't you dare. This is your fault, nothing but your fault-'

'I didn't ask for this to happen. I never did. You seem to forget that,' she replied, bright brown eyes narrowed in irratance.

'You brought this on yourself-'

'When I was seven? I was a kid when this first started happening. And if you haven't noticed, I wouldn't be alive if this hadn't happened when it did,' Nixie hissed.

But my mother wasn't giving a inch, hatred seething out of her, 'That would have been better than the shame you have brought on all of us-'

'So you'd rather me dead then around to bother you? Some mother you are,' Nixie whispered, in the way that you know that inside their head they're screaming.

'You're not my daughter; my daughter wouldn't do this to me!' Mum yelled

'Do this to you!?' Nixie demanded, now that mum was yelling, there was nothing to hold her back, 'Do this to you?!'

'I raised you differently than this, but you are one big disappointment to me!' she snapped in response, she was clearly intending to say more, but Nixie was done.

'How you raised me? The way you raised me was to be wild like the monster you'd decided I was in your head. The way you raised me was to be independent because you didn't want to handle me yourself. The way you raised me was to be just as paranoid, angry and bitter as you just to keep up with all this crap you throw at me! That's how you raised me; you are not allowed to be surprised that this is how I turned out!'

Nixie's rant seemed to explode out her, it seemed like everything she'd wanted to say for years was flying out of her mouth. It was terrifying to see her like this to say the very least, but mother was not letting up for a second. She'd never let Nixie voice her opinion without making her fight for the right for it to exist.

'This wasn't my fault! You aren't my fault! This disease you have, this thing demon that you have controlling you is what's to blame! You are a monster Phoenix, you are a freak! And there is no way on earth that anyone will be able to accept you! I will live the rest of my life like your caretaker, while you try to destroy absolutely everything in your path!-'

'I'm not a monster, I don't need you! If I'm a monster, it's because you're my creator, you made me like this, and I am so done with having to put up with all of this bullshit!'

'If you are so done, and then leave, I don't want you here anymore!' my mother yelled.

And that was when I couldn't take listening to this anymore, I ran down the stairs from where I'd been hiding around the corner, 'Nixie!' I yelled running towards her.

'Hydra! Stay there!' my mother barked, and I pulled up short, a couple of stairs to go.

But even as she saw me standing there, too afraid of my mother to do anything, Nixie took a deep breath, and she said the words that I'd been dreading the day I'd hear for six years years. I'd always known they were coming, but I'd always hoped that I'd be in a better position when I did. As Nixie sucked in one breath before saying in an undertone, barely louder than a whisper as she gave mother one more lingering look of hatred as she spat out;

'Fine then. I see how it is. I'm done. I'm going. I'm not coming back.'

And as I stood their choking on breath, trying to find the words to say, trying to convince my legs to move. Trying to be able to do anything at all, but my body wasn't cooperating in the slightest. As Nixie turned on her heel, and leaving a lingering scent of smoke, and a flash of golden curls, she walked off into the night. And I knew then and there, that there was no way that Nixie was coming back.

...

**Brendan's POV**

It started raining just before midnight, pelting down. I was at my dad's lab, sitting in front of the fireplace, just thinking. Did Nixie even know what she had done there? Did she know what it all meant? I could tell that this wasn't the first time this had happened, the look on Hydie's face had spelt that out far too clearly. But she did she know what any of this meant? I doubted it.

But even as I sat there, staring at the flames in the hearth, wondering what could possibly be happening right now, I heard through the pounding rain, a slight knock on the door. I sighed, stretching slightly, who could possibly come here at such a late hour? I got up, walking towards the door, running my fingers through my hair as I shuffled to answer the door.

But even as I pulled it open, I was filled with shock as I saw her whispering in surprise, 'Nixie?'

Nixie was standing there, and although drenched to the skin, still looked like a pillar of flames. She stared at me, mouth slightly open, eyes red and raw, just staring, like she had no idea what to do. She tried to say something, but failed.

And even as was left unable to say anything, she eventually managed to get out, 'I didn't know where else to go.'

And even as I stared at her, unable to tell what exactly was wrong, before I said calmly, 'Nixie, nothing has changed, you're always welcome here.'

I was quite surprised when out of nowhere, Nixie grabbed me and pulled me into an extremely tight hug. I could have sworn that she was crying, but she was dead silent and soaking wet so I couldn't be sure. I'm sure that whatever made Nixie cry of all things would have to be pretty horrendous, so I gently as possible coaxed her inside. I sat her down on one of the arm chairs near the fire place, and pried myself loose from her grip, before sitting down beside her.

'What happened Nixie?' I asked gently.

'I-I... I can't go back...'

'Can't go back where?' I questioned patiently.

'Home... not that I can call it that now... I'm not wanted there... but then again I'm starting to doubt that I ever was...' she whispered, staring into the flickering flames, not looking at me once.

'Nixie... how long has this... this ability of yours been happening for?' I asked carefully.

'Ability?' Nixie asked, grimacing slightly, 'That's a nice word for it, the nicest I've ever heard for it.'

'Nixie-'

'Since I was seven. We were in Kanto, in a school in Cerulean City. While we were there, a bunch of Pokémon thieves... the notorious Team Rocket, although this was in their early days, broke into the school to steal the Pokémon that they kept on hand because there were classes for Pokémon trainers run there. Hydie and I's class were playing with the Pokémon, and when Team Rocket came...'

I was dead silent as Nixie began to tell me this story. I felt like I was seeing a new and completely different side to her. Before something always seemed slightly forced in Nixie's personality, but this was her; no barrier, no exaggerations, no lies. She had lost whatever was stopping her from being her; and now the truth she'd been hiding no doubt for years; was just spilling out.

'The teacher had barricaded himself in the cupboard with the Pokémon that hadn't been let out of their Pokéballs not considering for a second that they would hurt us. But we were just kids... I... I didn't understand what was going on, and when they told me to hand over the little Eevee I was playing with... I refused. I told them to get their own Pokémon, that I was playing with this one and they needed to wait for their turn. But they told me that they had their own Pokémon, and they could use it to get whatever they wanted.'

Nixie's expression hadn't changed once, she just stared in the swirling reds, oranges and yellows in the fire place. But I was felt with a special kind of fear, what had they done to her? She was just a kid. I had heard of Team Rocket when I was traveling through Kanto and Johto, but nothing to the extent of them threatening little kids.

'The woman who was speaking to me... she said she was an Executive of Team Rocket... Ariana... She brought out an Arbok, and had it hold me down, it wrapped its tail around me and pinned me to the floor while she tried to use my life as a bargaining tool to get my teacher out of the cupboard... But he didn't take her seriously, so she brought out a second Pokémon... A Toxicroak, and told it to use Poison Jab, but the moment it went to... Something came over me...'

I was horrified to say the least, at seven years old; her life was threatened by some vile excuses for human existence. I remembered her saying once that she couldn't stand almost any poison type Pokémon, and if this had happened to her... I could understand why.

'Next thing I know... I'm on fire... but I'm not burning... The Arbok has released me... the Toxicroak looks a little bit... scorched... Everyone is staring at me... the Team Rocket members who were helping Ariana are cowering away from me... and Ariana herself has run for it. And that was when this mark first appeared on my skin... The change wasn't so dramatic then, the marking didn't cover as much of my body as it does now, it barely got to my elbow then... I didn't get a costume of any sort or anything like that... But still...'

After that Nixie went dead silent, and personally I couldn't talk either. She had been through a lot at a very young age, and here she was, telling me all of this. I couldn't understand why she wouldn't have wanted anyone to know. And I was already feeling bad for prying, but I had to know more.

'How did everyone else react?' I asked softly.

'…Hydie and I didn't understand it, we didn't really know that it was anything serious, neither did the other kids in my class, but the teachers, the older students, the police officers and the members of Team Rocket they arrested… They were so confused, some of them thought it was pretty cool, but everyone else… they thought I was possessed or some kind of monster… some people refused to believe it even happened, not that I blame them… but when we were taken home that day… Mum blew up.'

'Blew up?'

'Sort of… it wasn't half as bad then as it's been… She made Hydie go into the other room, while she demanded to know what I'd done… but when I told her the honest truth, that I honestly had no idea how that had happened, or why she was freaking out… she was yelling at me again… she said we had to move, had to get out of here, and it was my fault… she told me that I was never to do that sort of thing again, and that I wasn't allowed to go anywhere if my mark wasn't covered up…'

'How did you react to that?'

'I didn't get it, but I did as I was told… But now that the abilities had been unleashed once, it became easier and easier for me to set them off, mostly when I was angry or scared, but each time, the mark would grow bigger and bigger, and each time mum's yelling would get worse and she'd get more and more angry with me when I did it. Every time I'd do it, unless it was at home, she'd move us to a different region, somewhere where no one would know.'

'So that's why you moved everywhere?' I asked.

'Pretty much, that and if her boyfriend dumped her she wouldn't be able to take it and she'd move us away,' she muttered, 'The costume kicked in just before I turned ten, but it wasn't this revealing or this elaborate. That was the final straw for mum; that was when she decided that I wasn't allowed to leave on my Pokémon journey. That was when I lost all trust in mum, we had such a big fight that I set off my powers and that was when the mark made it onto my face. I wanted to run away that night, but Hydie convinced me to stay.'

'Do you regret staying?' I couldn't help but ask.

But Nixie just shrugged, 'I don't know, maybe not that time. But I wish I'd left sooner than now…'

'Why now? What changed this time?' I asked.

'Simple, mum kicked me out,' she said quietly.

'She kicked you out?!' I asked sharply, that couldn't be right, it couldn't be.

'I told her how over all her crap I was, she told me if I was so over it, I should leave, and never come back… and I agreed with her… and Hydie was there, but she didn't say anything, she didn't do anything, she just watched me leave.'

'Nixie-'

'I can't go back Brendan, I can't go back. I need to get away, find some way of dealing with all of this without my mother's meddling.'

'Nixie-'

'How could I go back? I was never wanted there, she said it herself. It's been a long time since she thought of me as her daughter.'

'Nixie, if you want to leave, I can help you,' I said hastily, 'Stay here as long as you want, but the moment that you're ready, you can go on your Pokémon journey, if that's what you want.'

'Really?' she asked, seeming completely amazed, 'You'd do that?'

'Well when the world is this cruel to you, someone has to step up and give you a chance to do what you want, what you've always dreamed of doing,' I told her, and a smile came across her face for the first time since she'd knocked on my door.

'…Thank you, thank you so much… you have no idea how much this means to me.'

'You can take Torchic with you; Arceus knows it's not going to accept anyone else,' I said trying to get her to laugh, 'I'll get you everything you need to head out into the world of Pokémon.'

'Thank you, thank you so much,' Nixie said, and this time, she was actually crying, but they seemed to be tears of joy.

'I'm sure dad won't mind if I take a Pokédex and a few Pokéballs, especially under the circumstances,' I said, making her laugh more.

'I'll just have to break back into the house and steal some clothes and things to take,' Nixie giggled through her tears.

'I can give you one of our old sleeping bags and some camping equipment to use until you can buy your own, I'll get you your trainers ID, they put money on the cards to equip Pokémon trainers, especially if they don't have someone to fund them from home,' I explained.

Nixie giggled again, nodding in excitement, 'Thank you, thank you.'

'One thing though Nixie. I'm all for helping you, and I will no matter what. But I just have one thing to ask of you in return. If you run away… I want you to give Hydie the chance to do the same thing, one last chance to get it right. Give her a chance to be free.'


	7. Withdrawing Woes

Chapter 7: Withdrawing Woes

**Nixie's POV**

Brendan asked me that? After all that I'd told him, he'd asked me to do that? I'd told him everything… well not everything, but a lot, and yet he still wanted me to do him a favour. I'd told him that Hydie had just stood there, just stood there and let me run off. If she wanted to come, she should have just come then.

But I was desperate, I had to get out, besides, I had to get back to the house anyway. There were things I needed to take, like my laptop; it had so much research about Pokémon and all of my plans. I had to get some clothes, some supplies, just in general things that I felt the need to take.

Also regarding the fact that I did have some savings from the vague allowance I was allowed. It had always been less than Hydie's so that I couldn't fund myself out of here, mum always had been convinced if I ever had the money for it I'd buy a ticket and leave the region. Little did she know that Hydie and I always split the difference so I had some significant savings that I could use to fund my way through the Hoenn region. Of course there were the funds every trainer had access to from the Pokémon League, but I'd prefer to use my own money when I could.

I went to my room first, I didn't know what I'd say to Hydie, and I needed more time to think about it. I climbed in through the window, which was thankfully wasn't locked, and my stuff was still untouched. It seems mum hadn't gotten around to burning all my possessions. That no doubt was the plan for the morning.

I grabbed the largest backpack I owned, and in the dark I began picking out everything I either needed, or couldn't bear to part with. Really I was taking mostly clothes, shoes and jackets, a couple of other things really, but not too much, Brendan was providing camping gear and stuff like that. But even as I put my laptop in bag, I was wondering if Hydie was even awake, if she would just yell out to mum and I'd have to run for it.

I didn't even go to her room via the corridor; it was too much of a risk. I went back out the window, and climbed along the outside of the house. The drain pipe was strong enough for me to swing along luckily. But as I moved down to her window, landing on the edge of the sill, balancing rather precariously, that was when I saw her.

Hydie was on her bed, a single lamp the only thing giving her light. She was curled in a little ball, crying her eyes out. The things around her room looked half broken, heads having been ripped of Pokémon dolls, a chair completely broken beyond repair and a few glass ornaments shattered on the ground. At first I thought it must have been mum, but that was until I saw the slight cuts on Hydie's hands... she'd done this? Hydie?... She actually cared that I'd left?

But even as I started opening the window a crack, I could hear her sobs, and I just couldn't bring myself to open the window any further for this moment. As she just cried and cried and cried like her whole world was falling apart. I wasn't used to seeing Hydie cry over something like this, the only time I was used to seeing her crying was over sad movies. But then I was allowed to tell her to suck it up. But I couldn't now. What would I say to her? What _could_ I say to her?

I pulled the window up some more, and even as it squeaked, she didn't look up, she just kept crying, and crying and crying. She didn't even notice when I pulled myself into the window, and entered her room, jumping down off her window seat. She just sobbed loudly, not even seeing me, not even raising her head, so I eventually spoke up;

'Hydie?' My voice came out as a whisper, and clearly she couldn't hear me over her constant wailing, until I said it slightly louder, 'Hydie.'

She looked up; seeming completely exhausted, almost in a trance, eyes red and raw, 'Nixie?'

'Is there anyone else here?' I asked bluntly, I knew I should probably be gentler with her, but I wasn't good at comforting people.

Next thing I know Hydie leapt from her bed, seizing me in a hug, weeping uncontrollably, 'Thank god, thank god your back.'

I knew I should be thankful that she does want me here, but I pushed her off me, 'No, no I'm not, I'm not back, I'm going, I really am.'

'Wh-wh-what?' she whispered.

'I'm leaving, I'm not coming back. Simple as that,' I said simply.

'But… where? … Where are you going?'

'On my journey, where I should have been six years ago.'

'…Brendan's helping you, isn't he?' she asked me, not seeming surprised at all, but still upset.

'Yes, he seems to be the only one around who doesn't think I'm a freak. He's willing to help me,' I told her; there was no point in lying to her, but I still couldn't help but be blunt with her, 'But he's the reason I'm here. He says if I'm running away, I have to give you the chance to come with me.'

She didn't respond, she just stared at me, like she was unable to believe it, but I didn't want to stay, I couldn't stay, 'I leave tomorrow at dawn; if you want to come, then be at Brendan's then. And if you don't want to come… if you can't bring yourself to come with me… then I guess this is goodbye.'

I turned on my heel, leaving myself surprised with my own callousness in the situation. She was my sister, my twin sister. For years she'd been the only one who could make me happy. She was the only thing that bound me to my family. And I was just saying goodbye to her like she meant nothing to me, I'd barely even looked at her.

But when I wasn't even half way out the window when Hydie yelled out to me, 'Nixie, wait!'

'What?' I asked turning around, most of me expecting her to say that she couldn't let me go and yell out to mum.

She took a deep breath, in and out, sapphire eyes shining when eventually she said after a pause that almost killed me, 'you don't need to wait for sunrise to hear my answer Nixie. I've already made my decision.'

I paused, staring her down, trying to make myself feel like I was in control. But once again I wasn't. My fate, my entire future was going to be decided right now. If Hydie did or didn't come with me, it would change absolutely everything. But even as I looked at her, she returned my gaze levelly before taking one final breath in and saying simply;

'You're my sister Nixie. I know that compared to everyone else in my life, you're the most important thing. I don't care what anyone thinks of you, or what anyone thinks of me. I'm with you, no matter what, and even if you don't have any idea where you're going... I'm coming with you.'

...

**General POV**

'So, she didn't need any prompting at all, now that's a shock.'

'Be quiet Titaia, Hydra wouldn't have been chosen if she didn't have what it takes, try to have a little more faith in her,' Leith replied coolly.

'I'm almost curious to what would happen if she said no, and then woke up the next morning with evidence that what their mother tortured Phoenix because of for as long as she did, was happening to her as well,' Pyrrhos laughed sounding amused.

'You have a sadistic sense of humour Pyrrhos,' Salacia commented, as if just a simple observation.

'You know it sis, besides, it runs in the family. I know the little devil in your mind, you were wondering the same thing,' he blonde man quipped in response.

'Was not,' Salacia replied, tossing her dark hair back stubbornly.

'Of course she wasn't,' Titaia said calmly, 'A true lady would never think of such a thing... she was wondering how'd she react if she woke up with the room filled with water before she realised she wasn't drowning.'

They're came a stream of laughter from both Salacia and Pyrrhos, but Leith turned around and said sharply, 'enough, will the three of you stop plotting the death of my ward?'

'Okay, okay, calm the rapids,' Salacia sighed, 'If Hydra didn't need prompting, then remind me again why there was a big warning about Hydra having to use her powers?'

'Salacia, you must activate Hydra's powers very soon. If the two of you don't, and keep waiting the lavas going to cool, and you're going to end up with an unmovable boulder that just won't budge,' Titaia replied.

'...That's what I get for making the rapids pun, don't I?' Salacia questioned.

'You had it coming,' Leith muttered grouchily, 'why must we activate her abilities? Traditionally they aren't supposed to get their abilities till the age of eighteen-'

'By that time it'll be too late Leith,' Titaia sighed, 'We have less than a year till the legends are brought into play. We can't risk that they won't be prepared, that they won't know how to use their powers.'

'Fine, at the next interval possible we'll activate her powers, but we can't promise how she'll take it. Hydra has always been more sheltered than Phoenix; she might not be ready to accept the responsibilities, the duties… and the risks, of being chosen by Arceus.'

…

**Nixie's POV**

'Told you she'd want to come.'

Brendan smiled at me smugly, and for once I just didn't care that I was wrong. Hydie was with me, she was coming, I'd doubted her for nothing. But she wanted to come with me, she wasn't going to leave me on my own, she wasn't going to stay with our twisted mother. I could barely contain my happiness and I was positive that my inner monologuing was obvious, but I just didn't care anymore.

Hydie smiled shyly at Brendan, flushing slightly, 'Thanks for having faith in me in Brendan.'

Even as Brendan blushed, I took the moment to say, 'Well someone has to.'

Hydie usually would have glared at me, but she was still in a bit of a state, so instead she hugged me tightly. Brendan smiled at us, the look on his face was like he was staring at an old family photo. And the moment that occurred to me, we very well might not be alone here.

'Brendan, where's your dad?' I asked.

'He went to visit Professor Elm in the Johto region for a couple of days.'

'He went during the fair?' Hydie questioned, feeling like she had to say something.

'Dad makes sure he's always out of town during these sorts of things. He wants to make sure he isn't asked to give a lecture, he hates doing that kind of stuff,' he explained, 'that's dad for you.'

'Good, good, I mean, your dad's great and all but…'

'You don't need too many observers in this crisis?' he finished for me.

'Yeah, pretty much,' I muttered under my breath, his bluntness annoying me slightly.

'So you decided to come after all that fuss Hydie?' he said, as he gestured towards the lounges.

She nodded as she sat down, before saying slowly, 'I guess I always knew inside, that if it came down to it, I'd always go with Nixie... I just was trying to stall the inevitable I guess... but this is what I want to do... I want to go on our journey... my journey.'

I felt the glow of happiness I must have been radiating strengthen, smiling all the more now that I realised how sincere Hydie was in this. Even though I would have hated to go without her, I would have hated her doing this just for me. I couldn't help but be relieved that their was personal choice in there as well. But Brendan smiled at us, not seeming to notice my reaction, and leaned forward slightly.

'What do you plan to do on your journeys?'

I grinned instantly, my happiness blurting out at me at all angles, 'I've been planning this for years.'

'She's always writing up anything and everything on that laptop of hers,' Hydie sighed with a slight laugh.

'You noticed that?'

'I notice everything, if I comment on it is another thing entirely,' Hydie nodded.

I smiled at her, but then I began to explain, 'I want to take on the Hoenn League, I want go all the way, be the champion then face the champion. Raising, training and battling with my favourite types of Pokémon, until I get all the way to the top.'

'Ambitious, but I'm sure you can do it,' Brendan grinned, 'What type of Pokémon are you after?'

'Oh I don't mind-'

'Yeah right, you're obsessed with fire types,' Hydie interrupted.

'I have a right to be obsessed, look at me,' I insisted stubbornly.

'I know you Nixie, you love fire, psychic, steel, ground and dragon types Pokémon. The moment you see one you'll fan girl and insist on catching it.'

'Well look who's snapped out of her little sorry state and got her sass back, what's your elaborate plan, or have you never even considered it?' I teased.

'Just because I'm not as vocal about it doesn't mean I don't know what I want,' Hydie said shyly, pushing back a corner of her fringe.

'Well this'd be the first I've heard of it,' I smirked, making Hydie give me a look, 'Oh come on Hydie just tell us.'

'…Well… I was thinking of entering contests…' she said awkwardly.

'Oh that explains so much,' I instantly put in.

Brendan gave me a look, telling me that I needed to be easier on her, but I couldn't help it, it really did explain a lot. Hydie was a fashionista, she liked looking good and always had her own style and flair. When we watched battles on TV she used to always comment that the battle seemed too brutal, although occasionally she would comment that a move looked pretty or something along the lines. Whenever we had to draw Pokémon for school, hers always seemed to be posing and performing some sort of glitzy move.

'Explains so much?' Hydie asked, still a little shaky.

'I'm just saying, I can see you as a coordinator,' I assured her hastily.

She smiled a little more before suddenly bursting at the seams, 'How can you be so happy? Everything is falling apart! We're running away from home! What will everyone think? What is it going to be like living out on the road with no one to support us? How can you expect that we'll just cope? What will May and Max think when they wake up tomorrow morning and we're gone? They won't have anyone to explain this to them. And what about when Norman gets home? He may have been at the gym tonight but what about when he hears about this?'

Hydie began taking dramatic intakes of breath, crying again, not that I knew how, I thought she would have used up all her tears by now. How much water could she possibly have in her body now at the rate she was crying? Brendan was trying to get her to calm down but her tears were rattling her entire body.

'Hydie,' I said quietly, but when she didn't respond, I spoke slightly louder, but I didn't change my tone, I understood, 'Hydie.'

She looked up slightly before saying, 'How can you do it?' she whispered in shaky breaths.

'Because I've been through enough that I can stop caring, I can turn it off to make it easier. May and Max know us well enough to not think we're monsters or that we're abandoning them, and one day we can explain everything to them. Just not today. Norman knows how desperate we've been to leave, and if he doesn't understand… We'll see him one day, I know it, and we can explain it then if all seems hopeless. And as for mum? I am so beyond the point of caring what her perspective on anything is.'

Hydie still didn't seem entirely convinced, she was still crying slightly. Brendan was gripping her hand, but he didn't seem able to think of anything to say. He signalled to me, he wanted me to keep going, say something that would convince her to cheer up. And after a minute or two of thinking I thought of something to say eventually.

'Hydie; I get it, she's our mother. But unless we make a point of what we want, we're never going to get that. When it comes to the family, I get it, you're the fixer, you make everything alright, you make us live with each other. But this isn't something you can just go fix; it's something that needs to heal over time. Just give it time. Please. Everything will be brighter if you stop trying to control it, and just let events play out the way their supposed to, okay?'

Hydie nodded slightly, she'd stopped crying, but she sort of half curled herself against Brendan for comfort, but I was trying to get her to smile so I decided to say something else, 'Can you imagine what it'll be like out there Hydie? Everywhere we turn there will be a new adventure, a new chance, a new challenge, a new opportunity. Contests and battles and trainers and Pokémon and places that'll teach us so much about the world, about ourselves. Let's face it, sending ten year olds out to fend for themselves might not be the brightest idea on the planet, but we're older, we're smarter and we can do this.'

Hydie was slowly smiling again, and Brendan decided to help me rather than just look at me cluelessly, 'Your journey will be the best years of your life, it'll be where you find out what you want to be doing for the rest of your life. You find out who you are, and you gain confidence in yourself you can't get through any other means.'

'Think about all the Pokémon out there Hydie. I know which ones you love, all the water and ice types you can think of are out there waiting for you. Rock type Pokémon are scattered throughout the mountain ranges in the distance. Even your darker side will find a Pokémon to match it.'

'Darker side?'Brendan asked in confusion.

'If you want to sleep again, never let Hydie tell you a ghost story,' I warned.

'They're not that bad-'

'May wasn't able to sleep in her own bed for two months after one of those stories,' I reminded.

Hydie grinned sheepishly before hastily changing the subject, 'I don't understand why people don't like ghost type Pokémon, they're so magnificent,' Hydie sighed.

'Yeah, they're totally fluffy,' I said sarcastically, 'your affection for dark, ghost and poison types is just a tad creepy Hydie.'

'You're only saying that because you hate poison Pokémon!' Hydie insisted.

'That's not true, I just hate a majority of them, and I have a right to, just like how you are terrified of all Natu,' I reminded.

'Do not mention the Natu!' she shrieked in objection seeming completely off-put by the mention of the name.

Brendan looked at her in confusion, 'Natu are one of the smallest Pokémon in existence, and the only thing that is smaller is the Joltik.'

'I don't care, they're creepy and something bad always happens to me when I see one,' Hydie insisted.

'Superstitious nut job,' I chided.

'Paranoid past-dweller.'

'I'm not the one who will force a piggy back when I see a bird that can't get bigger than twenty centimetres tall!'

'Just think about it Nixie, you'll have to carry me all over the Hoenn region if you dare catch one,' she reminded.

A weird part of me was glad for the reminder that she was coming with me.

…

**Brendan's POV**

It was strange, standing by the door, saying goodbye to Nixie and Hydie. We'd stayed up till about three in the morning talking before practically passing out in the middle of a conversation. But now it was about ten and the girls were going… and I was staying here.

Mudkip and Torchic were going with them. They were so happy to finally have trainers, especially with their trainers being ones which well, let's face it, they picked themselves. And here I was staying here; waiting to explain to dad why two Pokémon, two trainer packs and all our camping gear was gone. To dodge questions from the Carinthia family and all of my friends, and wonder what was happening to the girls.

Part of me wished I could go with them, but I knew my own journey had ended a long time ago. I'd figured out what I wanted to do then, become a Pokémon researcher, just like my dad. But Hydie and Nixie hadn't had the experience yet, they hadn't had a chance to decide what they wanted in life. Even if I didn't want to see them go, I knew it would be better for them to figure it out together.

Hydie looked gorgeous as usual, wearing a v-neck blue shirt over a black singlet with black shorts and a thick blue belt. Her long volumes of hair weren't straightened for once, leaving the wavy brown locks tied up in a ponytail that still trailed to her mid-back despite its height. A large blue backpack sat on the ground beside her as she hastily tied the laces of her black high-top trainers, while Mudkip scurried around her feet, chirping happily.

Nixie had embraced a different style from anything I'd seen her wear before, and although she had the strange outfit from yesterday packed away in her bag, the fiery markings remained on her skin. She was wearing a red shirt with cut off sleeves, with a pleated black skirt. She was wearing tall red boots with even longer black socks, with a scarf thrown around her neck and fingerless gloves slotted onto her hands. She was leaning against the wall, waiting for Hydie while she flicked through her new Pokédex that she had barely looked away from since I gave it to her, while patting Torchic's head distractedly.

But soon Hydie stood up, ready to go, picking up her bag, and Nixie did the same slinging the large backpack over her shoulder and clipping her Pokédex to her belt. Smiling at their first Pokémon, they returned them to their Pokéballs. Both still looking giddy at the prospect of being able to recall them, and keep them with them at all times, before eventually, they both turned to look at me.

'Thanks Brendan, for everything that you've done for us,' Nixie said sincerely.

'I think you two are worth the trouble,' I said, trying to sound cheerful, but I knew I was going to miss them.

'We'll call you whenever we get a chance, we should be in Oldale Town by nightfall,' Hydie said smiling at me gently, sapphire eyes glistening.

'Keep in touch, you'll both be doing great things, I wouldn't want to miss out on it,' I grinned.

Nixie gave me a one armed hug before looking at Hydie and saying, 'Time to hit the road sis.'

Hydie nodded, looking up at me, something bittersweet in her eyes, before completely out of nowhere she leaned up and kissed me straight on the lips. Her lips soft against mine for no more than a second and yet almost instantly whole situation started to feel a little more bitter sweet. I know I'd never flushed more in my life, having not much of an idea what would have convinced Hydie to do that. Hydie looked away from me awkwardly, and I think we were equal in levels of embarrassment, only worsened by Nixie's sudden onslaught of laughter.

'For god sakes you two, took your freaking time,' she laughed, before grabbing Hydie by the hand and dragging her out the door, 'See you later Brendan.'

Hydie was giggling like crazy as she waved at me as she ran alongside Nixie, finally free, finally on her way. And it wasn't until they were out of sight that I finally closed the door. I touched my mouth gently in the place that Hydie had kissed me. It felt good, and it felt right and smiling to myself and walked back into the living room where I flopped back on the couch.

'Good luck you two, good luck.'


	8. Magma Mayhem

Chapter 8: Magma Mayhem

**Nixie's POV**

Oldale Town was a tiny little place, more so of a village than a town. It was a town surrounded by forests it only had a few houses with a small market and a Pokémon Centre. Flowers grew all over in little patches in the grassy streets and bushes and trees on every corner. To the southern end of the town there were the famous Oldale Ruins. It was a sweet, peaceful kind of place, and as Hydie and I sat in a little corner of the Pokémon centre, I felt like it was right, this was a place I could get used to. But even so, despite the fact we'd been here for a few hours, I couldn't help but feel Hydie wasn't mentioning something.

'So where was it you wanted to go first, I mean the first step was to leave but now where do we go?' Hydie asked me excitedly, like she was going to burst or something.

'Well I figured that I should go to Rubustro, I really want to check out the gym there,' I said happily.

'I get it, you want to become a Pokémon master!' she said cheerfully, seeming slightly distracted at the same time.

'Unless you have an inclination to go somewhere else,' I drawled, trying to get her to crack.

'Well we could go to Rubustro but it's just that... it's just that...'

'It's just that?' I asked.

'There's a Pokémon contest coming up here in Oldale in three weeks and I really want to enter it!' Hydie blurted out.

She looked at me pleadingly with humongous sapphire eyes, while I just quirked an eyebrow at her, 'Sure you can get ready for a contest in three weeks? I mean really, it's a pretty big ask, you don't know anything about training Pokémon.'

'Please Nixie, please!'

'Seriously Hydie, no need to beg,' I assured her, 'I just want to check your ready for this, I mean really, you've been a trainer for less than a day. As long as you're sure that you aren't taking on too much too soon, I'm with you, okay?'

'I can get ready in three weeks, I mean really, I don't really expect to win, but Oldale is a tiny town, chances are it's going to be a relatively small contest, maybe I have a shot,' Hydie said desperately.

'Of course you do, of course,' I soothed, 'come on Hydie, you know I got your back. I'm sure you could win this contest if-'

But that was when a voice cut across mine and someone said rather obnoxiously, 'Don't even bother trying, it's me whose going to win that ribbon.'

Hydie and I slowly turned around to see a girl standing there with a rather unpleasant smirk on her face. Her chestnut hair was styled in an equal amount of ringlets and loops, with short bangs framing her face. Her eyes were a strange pale green, almost tinged with white, but her dark lashes made them jump out and make her seem almost seem to glow. Her skin was moon pale, and her lips were plump and painted dark pink. But Hydie was barely looking at her; she was more focused on the ribbon pinned to her shirt collar.

'You've won a contest?' Hydie asked, completely disregarding the comment, and moving closer to look at the ribbon.

The girl looked smug, tossed her bangs out of her eyes, and then with two fingers pushed Hydie backwards from her with an elongated sigh, 'Oh darling, that's nothing, I've only been in Hoenn for a month. I've only just started. I've already been in a Grand Festival, I couldn't help but overhear, you only just started your journey today, you really expect you can win this? You won't even get past the appeal stage.'

This girls clear, cool dismissal of Hydie struck me cold, and I twitched slightly in my spot, usually this would have been my cue to go hellfire on this girl, but I really wanted to see if Hydie could handle this herself, I'd never really let her. Hydie looked at her for a second, a glint of anger in her eyes, but at the same time she remained remarkably calm as she began to speak;

'But the thing is, I've never hear of you, I know all the upcoming coordinators from across the world, I know anyone whose actually gotten a decent position. Which means you didn't get past the appeal round. Before you criticise me, make sure your own standings are something worthy,' she said in a deathly calm tone, 'Who the hell do you think you are?'

'Oh, the little newbie has guts. They call me Tigerlily and in case you haven't realised, whether I got to the battle rounds or not, I still got through in six contests. The battle ground is where I shine,' she said with muted anger, 'I'll see you in the contest.'

The girl sauntered off but turned around to give one final comment, 'I would have said see you on the final stage, but you won't get that far.'

Hydie twitched in her place as Tigerlily disappeared around the corner, before she turned to me and said, 'I swear to god Nixie, I am going to crush that girl into the dirt. Let me compete.'

'...I think I know better than to get in your way when you get that look on your face Hydie,' I said after a moment, 'But seriously, you need to have some sort of plan if you're going to do this.'

'Well... I'll use Mudkip of course,' she started, 'I can start mapping out ideas for the appeal round now and-'

'Do you even know what moves it can use?'I reminded.

'Oh right, completely forgot about that!' she said in surprise, whipping out her Pokédex, 'Let's see then...'

'It's upside down Hydie,' I sighed impatiently.

'Then it needs to be better labelled,' she insisted and turned it around, 'Okay, according to the Pokédex my Mudkip knows Water Gun, Mud Slap, Bide and Ancient Power. That's a pretty good range of attacks.'

'Looks like it's a bit of an oddball, it's pretty unusual for a Mudkip to know Ancient Power,' I explained.

'It is?' she questioned, not entirely sure what I meant by it.

'Well yeah, it nearly always means that one of its parents was an ancient Pokémon,' I explained, and even as she looked thrilled I decided to mention, 'although chances are it was a Corsola's kid.'

She looked slightly disappointed before asking me, 'How do you know that anyway? I mean water types are a little outside your comfort zone.'

'But Mudkip evolves into a part ground type, so I had to look it up,' I laughed, making Hydie giggle and shake her head.

'Sometimes I wonder about us, there are seventeen types, I love six of them, you love five of them, part of me can't help but wonder if we're missing someone who adores the other six types,' she grinned.

'Well maybe your boyfriend has a soft spot for them,' I teased, causing her to swat me in the stomach.

'Oh shut up Nixie, I kissed him, once, doesn't mean he's my boyfriend,' she insisted.

'Oh please, that was what I said about my last boyfriend, but didn't let me ignore it. For god's sake, half the reason why we started going out is because you wouldn't shut up,' I reminded.

'...Touché...'

...

**Hydie's POV**

The route to the west of Oldale Town was usually used as a quick way to get to Petalburg City with no worries and very little time. But Nixie had another idea on what she wanted to do there altogether. Although there was a large clean strip of road to follow through on the route, Nixie was more interested in what was hiding in the tall grass and thick clumps of trees that were almost impossible to get through. We'd been talking to a few of the other trainers in the market this morning, and one of them had mentioned that there were Ralts in the woods nearby, and well, I couldn't stop Nixie from coming here after that.

'I have got to get myself a Ralts! They're the cutest little things! Don't you think Hydie?!' she babbled.

I'd never really seen Nixie this excited about something; it was so peculiar to see her jumping boulder to boulder, swinging on low-hanging branches, giggling and clambering up trees to get a better look at the forest surrounding us. She was hopscotching over the rocks on an extremely shallow creek that splashed across the side, still giggling the entire time.

'Nixie, slow down,' I called loudly.

She turned around, her bright blonde hair swishing around her face, her face lit up in the smile of an excited child, 'Oh come on, I really want to catch one,' she insisted.

'I know that,' I assured her, 'but you're not going to catch anything being so loud. I thought Ralts were really shy; they're not going to come out if you're racing around freaking them out. And I know it sounds a little selfish, but honestly, I was really hoping that I could start work with my contest prep today.'

'There are Poochyena along this route as well,' she said smugly turning to look at me, 'What do you have to say to that?'

'...Let's go catch us some Pokémon,' was my response.

Nixie grinned, happy that she'd convinced me and continued waltzing along the path. She'd taken off her shoes about twenty minutes ago, and as a result the bottoms of her feet were black and dusty. But after about another hour of walking she was had blisters on the bottom of her feet and was only not putting them back on out of sheer stubbornness. We hadn't seen any of the Pokémon we were looking for just a whole bunch of Zigzagoon, a couple of Seedot and a Surskit or two.

The Ralts and Poochyena in this forest seemed to have almost been like a rumour, as I couldn't see a hide or hair of them anywhere. Nixie kept assuring me that there must be some around here somewhere, that we must not be looking in the right place, but at the same time, I couldn't help but find it funny that Pokémon that were usually only found in this area, weren't showing up at all. Surely their populations would have been immense here, but they weren't even appearing in the slightest, not a hide or hair of them anywhere.

'Are you sure they said to the west of Oldale Town Nixie?' I double checked.

'Of course I'm sure, that Wally guy said he caught his Ralts in the forest here, he even pointed this way when I asked him which way was west,' she insisted, before shooting me a slight smile and saying, 'Sorry, I didn't recon it would take this long either, it's been over an hour and a half, surely you'd think we'd have seen something by now.'

'It's fine Nixie, really, nothing to worry about... where abouts are we do you recon? I'm not entirely sure anymore,' I admitted.

'I'm not entirely sure- did you hear that?' she cut off suddenly.

'...Hear what?' I asked, having no idea what she was talking about.

'I heard a voice...' she whispered, stiffening suddenly, looking around, fidgeting constantly.

'It was probably just the wind,' I said calmly, but Nixie suddenly shook her head, looking very paranoid.

'No, no it wasn't... there it is again! Did you hear it?!' she asked sharply.

'No, I didn't, Nixie, what' going on?' I begged.

'Someone was screaming! Calling for help! They're in trouble! We've got to go help them!' Nixie panicked, bolting down the footpath, 'Come on Hydie!'

Typical Nixie madness.

...

**Nixie's POV**

I knew it wasn't normal to hear things like I did, but I hadn't so much heard it as felt it vibrating in my head. Someone needed help. I didn't know what was going on, I didn't know who or what was calling to me, why Hydie couldn't hear them to or anything like that; I just knew that something was wrong.

I ran through the forest, tripping and stumbling, ignoring Hydie's calls for me to slow down. The voice was still screaming in my head, begging for help, I had to get to whatever was calling to me, I had to.

But when I finally reached a clearing, I was met with a horrible scene. A group of people in red and grey uniforms were shoving unconscious Poochyena into cages. The cages were then thrown roughly into a large helicopter as the strange people moved around the forest to pick up more. And there standing in the middle of it was a girl who stood there with a Scyther, ordering the people around her to lure more Poochyena to the area.

She was dressed in a dark grey dress that went to her knees, with a long slit up the side to allow freer movement. A red belt was clamped around her slim waist, thick chrome cuffs were set on her wrists and red moon boots were on her feet. But if this didn't make her look strange, it was only emphasised by the strange red hooded poncho she was wearing. Emblazoned on the front was a strange 'M' made to look vaguely like a mountain, and on the edge of the hood there were strange black pieces of cloth that made her look like she had ears. But as she surveyed the scene around her, she remained unsympathetic to the rough treatment of the Pokémon surrounding her. Viridescent eyes cold, but with an odd look of satisfaction, as if all that was happening was going completely according to plan.

'Admin; there are no other Poochyena in the surrounding areas, it appears all the others have fled,' a man in a similar outfit, but not carrying half the authority, said politely and officially.

The girl nodded briefly, before saying, 'No doubt the Ralts in the area are responsible, the creatures would have sent out a psychic signal for all Pokémon to flee, it's typical of their behaviour.

'Psychic signal…' I murmured to myself.

That must have been what I heard, but not the call to run, but the call to help. I had to help these poor Poochyena, I couldn't just sit here and do nothing, it wasn't right. I didn't know what I could do though, there were at least a dozen people here, and that Scyther looked extremely powerful. No doubt by the Pokéballs on their hips the others had more Pokémon as well. What could I do? I only had Torchic, and it hadn't really been trained, I'd only gotten it yesterday for god's sake. But I had to try to help these Pokémon.

Carefully calculating a plan in my head, as silently as I could, I let Torchic out of its Pokéball, shooshing it gently when it tried to make a sound, before I whispered very quietly, 'I want you to stay right here, and use focus energy for as long as you can. When I give the signal, you're going to use your ember attack, okay? Can you do that for me Torchic?'

'Tor,' it replied quietly, looking determined.

I kissed it gently on the forehead, and got up; stepping as silently as I possibly could to the helicopter from the edge of the clearing. Before I started to edge into the clearing, being as careful as I could not to alert the people gathered around their leader. But as I got closer to the helicopter I noticed that trapped in a cage with one of the Poochyena was a small Ralts. The poor thing was squished into a tiny cage, trying to share the room as carefully as it could with the larger Pokémon. Then it turned to look at me, its eyes glistening with sadness as it stared at me, and that was when I realised that it had been calling for someone to come and help it, and my heart practically broke in half.

_Help me Phoenix, help me._

Its gentle voice echoed in my head and taking the risk needed I ran across the gap between the tree line and the helicopter and jumped in. I looked around, and found much to my surprise, there was no one in the helicopter. Making a shooshing gesture to the Pokémon, starting to unlatch the hooks on the cages, signalling them to wait here for a moment. I gently moved closer and closer to the cage with the Ralts in it, letting out other Pokémon along the way, and as soon as I got my hands on the little Ralts, pulling it gently out of its cage and placing its delicate floor back on the ground I whispered as quietly as I could;

'Do you know any psychic attacks? Something you could use to undo the latches on these cages?' I asked it.

The Ralts looked up at me, tilting its overlarge head up so its bright pink eyes could be seen through its thick green fringe. It dipped its head slightly, its tiny mouth still open slightly, before it tottered towards another cage, it's bizarre walk only further emphasising how its tiny white body made it look like it was wearing an overlarge dress. Before a slight pulse of strange purple-blue energy fixated around the latch of another cage and it opened the door.

'Great job Ralts,' I whispered, 'Keep going.'

I stepped carefully through the maze of cages, emptying them of Pokémon that were stuffed in. Sometimes as many as three Poochyena were stuck in the one cage, and seeing as there was so little room to move, I had to pull them out delicately. But even as I freed the Poochyena, I couldn't help but wonder why Hydie hadn't caught up with me yet, she'd run after me, I'd heard her running after me.

But that was when I heard a sudden screech that I recognised all too well, and as I pulled the last Poochyena out of its cage I ran to the open door of the helicopter. In the middle of the clearing Hydie was on the ground, the Scyther was standing on top of her, one of its guillotine like hands pointed at her head. The girl in charge glared at her, a poisonous look in her eyes and a snarl on her face.

'What are you doing here?' she hissed.

'Not watching you poach a hoard of Poochyena, no, no, nothing like that,' Hydie panicked.

The girl sighed impatiently and said, 'Well she's not an Aqua, that's for sure, they're better liars than that. Scyther, get off her, you and you, tie her up.'

Two men raced forward, ropes tying around Hydie as they pinned her to the ground, the Scyther boredly stepping off her, but even from here I could lip-read Hydie's desperate whisper of, 'Where are you Nixie?'

'Admin,' one of the men said sharply, clearly having heard her, 'I think she may have friends in the area.'

'Oh really?' the leader sighed, 'Well do you have people nearby?'

'What? No, my sister isn't nearby, I have no idea what you're talking about!' Hydie insisted, I never realised till now that she was such a horrible liar, she'd always been so good at it with mum, but this must have been too much for her.

'Finish tying her up, we'll have to go, we have enough Pokémon for now, we'll have to move out before anyone comes looking for her, the less witnesses the better,' the girl sighed, filled with exasperation before kicking Hydie straight in the side, making her gasp in pain, which only made the girl roll her eyes, 'You're lucky we're not doing anything worse to you. Grunts, move out!'

I was boiling with anger, how dare they treat her like that, no one touches my sister. I had already been threatened by one group of Pokémon thieves, and because of them, I'd been permanently screwed up. I wasn't going to let them do the same to Hydie. But as they began to fall back into a formation, moving towards the helicopter, moving towards me, I realised my first priority had to be to get the Pokémon out, so taking a deep breath, I called out my final signal to Torchic:

'Torchic! Now!' I screeched, sticking my head out the helicopter doors.

A sudden explosion of fire whipped through the air, and even though I couldn't see Torchic, the strange people were instantly distracted by the explosion of fire. It started catching onto trees, which hadn't exactly been part of the plan, but I knew if I had any time, it was time to do it now.

'Poochyena! Charge, run for it while you can!' I roared as loudly as I possibly could, my voice cracking under the pressure as I did.

The stampede of the grey and black puppies overwhelmed the strange group of people, as they jumped, trying to mover out of the way of the sudden onslaught of Pokémon, only proving how much power there was in numbers. But unfortunately, their leader wasn't so shaken as she leapt into the air, landing on top of her air-born Scyther, hovering there for a moment before she leapt like a ninja over the charging Poochyena, racing towards me as I tried to make it into the trees.

'Oh no you don't,' she hissed, leaping into the air, grabbing a tree branch and swinging around to face me, blocking my exit, 'You're not ruining things and getting away so easily.'

'Who are you?' I demanded, 'What do you want with the Poochyena?'

'Oh like I'd give the details to a little brat like you, you'll find out all about it when I drag you back to headquarters,' she said seeming perfectly calm, even as smoke and sparks flared around us, 'Scyther.'

Out of no where, the bright green Pokémon reappeared, and with one slash of its bladed hand I was forced to the ground as it opened up a large cut across my back. I couldn't help the screech of pain, as my vision clouded, as I saw the girl walk closer so I could see her boots right in front of my face, as she gave a simple command.

'Grunts, tie her up, she's nothing special, just a little meddler who doesn't understand the greater purpose of our organisation. We'll take her and the other brat back to her headquarters, our Leader shall decide what we are to do with them.'


	9. The Sound of Spirits

Chapter 9: The Sound of Spirits

**Hydie's POV**

Nixie wasn't moving, she was lying on the ground, bleeding from the humongous gash along her back that the Scyther had given her. That girl, the girl who had hurt her was just looking at her like she was useless. All I knew isn't I didn't like it, all I knew was I couldn't let this happen. Nixie had but her life on the line to protect these poor Pokémon, and I hadn't been there to help her. Why wasn't I there to help her?

She'd run off, saying she knew something was wrong, but after a few seconds I just decided that it was just Nixie being Nixie and there wasn't a problem. If I had caught up with her before this happened, then maybe I could have helped her. Maybe I could have protected her. It's funny, Nixie is the youngest, and she's always protected me, it shouldn't be like that, it should be equal, we should both protect each other, hell if anyone is protecting anyone it should be me.

I could feel myself crying despite myself, I wanted to be strong, I wanted to help her. I had to help her. I started struggling against the ropes that bound me, flailing like a Magikarp. I just had to help Nixie, my little sister, was in danger, I had to help her, I had to.

But that was when a red boot was placed on my chest and I found myself staring into the cold eyes of the girl who had been in charge of this band of crooks, 'Stop squirming,' she hissed.

'Let my sister go,' I begged, but her eyes glinted with malicious cruelty.

'Ah ah, don't be so negative about this, we'll just take care of you for a time, establish whether or not you're a threat to our organisation. You should only be feeling threatened if you are and if you are well then… you'll never see the light of day.'

I wasn't a fighter like Nixie, but I'd learned that I could spit with deadly accuracy and range, which was why the girl threatening me wasn't too happy when I spat directly in her face from the ground. She flinched visibly, before glaring at me and in one tremendous kick sent me rolling at least a meter.

'Vermin,' she hissed at me, 'You have just sealed you and your precious sister's fate, no one shows disrespect to Team Magma and lives to tell the tale, and you have just insulted an Admin, and that results in a far more torturous existence then you have ever known.'

'Try me, if you think you're torture? You haven't met my mother,' I hissed, trying to do what Nixie would do, and pray that somehow it works.

At that point the girl kicked me again, but under the sheer force of her strength, I felt my ribs crack and break, I cried out, a desperate gasp of pain that I couldn't contain as tears streaked down my face and before I could help myself I yelled out, 'Nixie!'

I sounded like a pathetic child screaming after their mother to kiss every little graze and even as the girl laughed at my call I heard a small groan followed by two sharper yelps of pain. Nixie was struggling to her feet, the bounds that had kept her controlled, and the two people who'd been standing near her were on the ground, smoke lightly rising from their blackened uniforms.

'You know,' she said in a pained but determined tone, rising, blood still dripping down her back as she looked shaken but enraged, 'it may be one thing to cross your ever precious Team Magma, magma is a form of fire, heat, lava, but you're dealing with real flames now.'

She seemed more herself than I'd ever seen her when she was using her abilities, her tattoo like mark was morphing across her face, seeming to be twisting and spinning. The Magma Admin was backing off, she seemed to be in some sort of state of shock but as she saw the other people begin to run, she seemed unsatisfied. She gritted her teeth and in a single move she attacked.

I was still struggling against my bonds; I could sense Nixie was in trouble, because even though she was using her abilities, the Admin seemed to breathe danger. She leapt forward, and tumbling through the air, she slammed Nixie into the trunk of a nearby tree. I could see Nixie falter; trying to stay conscious despite the damage she had already taken, fighting to protect me. Nixie sent a blast of fire from her palms, but the Magma girl dodged it like this was the most natural turn of events in the world and strike Nixie hard enough in the side you could almost see the ribs cracking under the force.

She wasn't going to give up, being who she was she was completely incapable of it, but this time I could tell that it wouldn't be Nixie's choice whether she gave up or not. I noticed a rather sharp looking rock nearby and rolling I managed to grab it, and I started to grate it against the ropes that held me. I felt such relief when I realised I'd snapped one of the ropes, but at the same time the lack of the resistance propelled the stone into my arm, and I screamed in pain as I felt it brush against my bone.

My ropes were off, but the pain was excruciating, but I had to help Nixie, I had to help her, 'Hydie, stay down!' I could hear her yell at me as she took even more damage for the full onslaught of the Admin's abilities.

I was crying, but I forced myself to my feet, but then I found I wasn't quite sure what was going on, like I wasn't in my own body anymore. I couldn't see anything anymore, and I couldn't hear, but I could still sense everything around me like it was completely there. The pain convulsing from my arm seemed to spread throughout my entire body, but I fell to my knees again and pushing through the pain I got back to my feet.

'No,' I whispered to something I couldn't see, 'I have to protect her, please, help me protect her.'

I didn't know what I was saying, or who I was talking to, but the way my skin crawled got even more intense, and everything in my system was shaking. But there was a sudden almost cooling sensation, like I'd been plunged into arctic waters, I felt cold, but the pain was gone and for some reason I was no longer afraid. But that was when the whispers began and I couldn't be sure who they were but they all sounded familiar.

'Lady Hydra guardian of oceans, rivers and lakes, embrace your power; let nothing and no one hold you back.'

The voice was from a female, delicate but with a resounding power behind it, it was controlled, yet varied, high but deep, soft but unable to be missed. Everything that was opposite, back to front and different from each other was filled out in one voice. But another voice, one just as filled with balance and conflict was starting to sound, this time male.

'It is your ultimate test now Hydra, you must embrace your destiny, you must let nothing stop you.'

I just didn't know what to say but I knew what I wanted so I said that instead, 'Please, let me protect my sister.'

'To protect your sister you must protect the world,' the two voices replied in sync, appearing at yet more contrast to each other.

'I don't care!' I yelled, 'Just let me save her! I'll do anything!'

I was begging and I knew it, but in this state where I couldn't see, I couldn't hear anything but the voices, I had to save Nixie, I couldn't let her get hurt. More voices started speaking, saying so many things I couldn't hear what, I couldn't pick out a single phrase or person because a hundred people were talking. I heard words that didn't seem to be in the same language and as I began to crumble under the weight of the voices faces began to appear within my vision that until now had been met by a blinding white light.

People were appearing around me, with a strange similarity to each other. Flowing, wavy brunette hair, just like mine, all had the same shining sapphire eyes that seemed to be a mirror to mine. Each was built like a warrior, even as they flickered and swayed like they weren't really there. The clearest thing of all from what I could see was the dark blue robes, each frozen and drifting like we were underwater.

But that was when I noticed that I could see myself, something below me was acting like a mirror, and looking down I could see my face. Somehow I looked different then I usually did, like the face staring back wasn't entirely mine. My hair looked longer, shinier, darker, it had been up before but now it was out, flowing at all angles. By eyes seemed brighter, my skin seemed clearer and as I looked down at my arms I noticed the wound was nothing more than a memory right now. But that was when I noticed swirling up my arm, a mark like a constant tear drop, swirling along my index finger in the most vibrant of vibrant blues, along my palm, my wrist, swirling up my arm till it hit my elbow before stopping.

It was just like Nixie's marking, but like water, not fire, and considerably shorter, but now that I thought about it, this was about how long Nixie's mark had been in the beginning. The more she used her ability though the bigger it got, my mother had called it a sign of the increasing shame she was bringing upon the family, Nixie and I had just gotten exasperated at the amount of makeup it took to cover it up. And on top of the marking, and everything starting to look different like I was living in a more vibrant universe, I couldn't help but notice that my outfit had changed as well, it was like Nixie's strange outfit, but different, with more blues and different sleeves and skirt, more flowing and well… frankly more me.

'Hydra!' called the voices all at once and I looked up, feeling like a lost Princess in an anime movie, my eyes wide with both fear and wonder, 'We the spirits of oceans, rivers and lakes will guide you forever, as you are the living guardian chosen by Arceus to guide and guard the human world. But know that you must find the third guardian now that you and Phoenix are revealed before the rise of Groudon and Kyogre begins.'

'I… I will…' I stuttered out.

'You are ready, and now it is time for you to rise, time for you to fight, time for you to take control of your destiny. It is time to return to your own world, rather than lingering in ours, you are ready Hydra. The tides are flowing in your favour.'

There was an incredible flash of neon blue light, and as I fell out of their world and back into mine, I knew what I had to do.

…

**Nixie's POV**

I had never used my abilities consciously before; until now I had almost been in a trance the entire time, and I would only just remember what I'd done, and even then it was clouded. But when Hydie had screamed out for me, sounding in so much pain, I had no longer known anything else but the need to help her. She was my twin sister, and that bond is special, I wasn't going to lose her when I knew I could do something. But I had underestimated the Admin; the girl was clearly trained to a high extent in martial arts, with strength I had never felt. She was precise and deadly, and capable of inflicting pain without hesitation or afterthought.

I knew I couldn't fight much more, I was hurt, and in so much pain I was putting more of a fight into not passing out rather than fighting the Magma girl. Hydie had done something to cut her bonds, but she'd managed to stab herself in the arm, she'd struggled to her feet again and again but she was now beyond getting up, and was thrashing on the ground, like she was in some sort of trance. But I didn't have any time to think about that, I just had to fight, I couldn't let myself lose, I couldn't.

I was struck again the blow nearly popping out my shoulder, I sent out another blast of fire, but the girl was too quick and just kicked me in the shins knocking me to the ground, and her foot landed on my throat, 'You're determined, I'll give you that much, but you're incapable. I don't know how you manipulate fire as you do but I'm sure our Leader will gain much joy from using it for Team Magma's purposes,' she laughed.

I took a deep breath in, and controlling my power as much as I could, I managed to send a blast from my hand, but it only singed the side of her skirt as I was in no position to aim anymore. But the Magma girl just laughed cruelly and pressed down with enough force to choke me. I was struggling to breath, struggling for consciousness as no doubt I was about to collapse from blood-loss, exhaustion and now, lack of air.

But just as everything began to fade, suddenly the pressure was gone almost too quickly. I felt something cold brush by my face and as I used all the stubborn determination I had left to move my head to look. But that was when I noticed that the Magma Girl was lying twenty feet away, having smashed into a tree, but she was surrounded by a pool of crystal clear water. But before I could really understand or look around for how this could have happened, suddenly the water suddenly rose from the ground before freezing solid till it encased her entire form in a thin sheet of ice.

I gaped in shock, unable to get up, I felt so paralysed, and I was struggling to find where it had come from, but then I saw Hydie. Sections of her long brunette hair were pinned back into a bun, leaving the rest flowing out, her eyes actually glowing bright blue as she stood, in some sort of fighting stance, arms outstretched, at the end of a long trail of water. She was dressed in a long blue skirt that flowed to her ankles, with a strange, blue-plated belt around her waist like some sort of bejewelled armour with a large ring of gold around the top. She was wearing a strange, dark blue shirt that seemed to have gold netting spread across it, with an extra plate of gold armour around the edge. The sleeves were off the shoulder, but still covered in the gold netting, with a strange swirling bracelet wrapped around the top of her arm and a bangle clamped around her wrist. But the marking was there, and I couldn't contain the strange feeling of both joy and terror as I realised Hydie was like me.

Suddenly Hydie was at my side, she barely seemed to realise I was conscious as she forcefully flipped me over and I felt a cooling sensation along the wounds on my back. The strange cross between ice and water pressed against my back, as the pain slowly faded I breathed a faint sigh of relief. I knew that Hydie probably had no idea what she was doing; she was in some sort of trance, I always had been when I'd used my powers unintentionally.

'Hydie,' I said softly.

Suddenly she blinked slightly, the glowing from her eyes ceasing, 'Nixie? Are you okay?' she questioned.

'Yeah, thanks to you,' I said rolling over and sitting up, 'I never thought for a second that I wouldn't be the only one.'

'Well you're not Nixie,' she said gently, a faint smile coming across her face, 'And it's not just us, these weird voices came, and I know it'll sound slightly mad but-'

'Oh you get voices to? I do Hydie, no need to worry, mine even have names,' I couldn't help but laugh.

'Okay, well I don't have names yet but they told me something else, we need to find someone else, there's one more person, and apparently we need to find them before the rise of Groudon and Kyogre, but I have no idea what that means, or how we're supposed to find them.'

'I don't know either,' I sighed, 'but I'm glad we're in this together.'

I leaned over and hugged my sister, and despite still feeling the pain, I finally felt right, there may be a missing piece or two left, but for once I felt like I was ready. Ready for a new start and a new life. As I let go I smiled at Hydie, before looking around and suddenly giving out a cry of surprise.

The Magma Admin, who had been frozen until mere moments before was gone, and I whipped around to see her in the cockpit of the helicopter, and as she saw me staring at her she sent an all too taunting smile towards us. And with a mock salute towards us, she turned the engines on and flew away. The helicopter clipped trees as it breezed through the trees, and nearby Taillow took to the sky in reaction to the disturbance.

Hydie looked crestfallen as she asked, 'How did she get out Nixie?'

'I don't know sweetie, I don't know. But I have a distinct feeling that it's not going to be the last time we see her.'

'No, I don't think so either,' Hydie said shaking her head, 'So what do we do now?'

'We get Torchic and then get me back to a doctor, I think I'm gonna need stitches.'

* * *

**Hello readers;**

**Long time no post, I'm sorry about that, but I had an urge to focus on my other Pokémon Fanfic The Eclipse Islands and that took focus away from this. Feel free to go check that out, or if you are one of my readers who have come here from reading the eclipse islands, welcome. **

**So Hydie is now part of Nixie's strange life and abilities, and the strange Magma girl, has gotten away, but this is not the last we shall see of her. So be sure to let me know what you think of my story, and drop me a review and be sure to keep on reading.**

**Much love;**

**~Selina**


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